Handelsbanken Fonder AB Reduces Stock Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Key Points

• Handelsbanken Fonder AB reduced its Block stake by 22.5% in the second quarter, selling 43,569 shares and retaining 150,402 shares valued at approximately $11.4 million. Institutional investors collectively own 70.44% of the company.
• Block insiders sold 447,179 shares worth about $35.0 million over the past three months, including sales by CFO Amrita Ahuja and insider Brian Grassadonia under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans.
• Despite the selling, analyst sentiment remains positive, with Block holding a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and a $95.23 average price target. The company also exceeded quarterly EPS estimates, reporting $1.02 versus the $0.48 consensus, while revenue rose 9.3% year over year to $6.62 billion.

Handelsbanken Fonder AB cut its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ - Free Report) by 22.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 150,402 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 43,569 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB's holdings in Block were worth $11,431,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Baird Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,866,000. Brown Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Block in the second quarter worth about $516,000. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $385,000. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,861,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 8,971 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.85, for a total transaction of $770,160.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 454,275 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,999,508.75. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 43,348 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $3,467,840.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 557,654 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,612,320. The trade was a 7.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 447,179 shares of company stock valued at $35,014,655. Corporate insiders own 11.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

XYZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Block from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Block in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Clear Str raised Block to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Craig Hallum assumed coverage on Block in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $95.23.

Block Price Performance

NYSE:XYZ opened at $83.16 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $77.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.47. The stock has a market cap of $49.50 billion, a PE ratio of 148.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.53. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.21 and a 52 week high of $86.75.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.54. Block had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 1.43%.The firm had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.62 EPS. The business's revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Block has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.020-4.020 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.020-1.020 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 2.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Block

Block NYSE: XYZ is a financial technology company that builds products and services to facilitate electronic payments, commerce, and consumer finance. Its principal business lines include a seller-focused ecosystem that provides point-of-sale hardware and software, payment processing, invoicing, payroll and lending services, and a consumer-facing platform that offers peer-to-peer payments, banking-like features, and investing. Block's portfolio also encompasses music streaming and buy-now-pay-later capabilities through businesses acquired to broaden its reach beyond core payments.

The company was founded as Square in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey and later rebranded to Block to reflect a diversified set of businesses across payments, consumer finance, and emerging technologies.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source