IFP Advisors Inc Sells 14,818 Shares of Block, Inc. $XYZ

Key Points

• IFP Advisors reduced its Block stake by 7%, selling 14,818 shares in the second quarter and retaining 196,142 shares valued at approximately $14.9 million. Institutional investors collectively own 70.44% of the company.
• Block insiders sold 372,006 shares worth about $29.9 million over the past 90 days, including sales by CFO Amrita Ahuja and Director Anthony Eisen under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with Block receiving a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $95.42. The company also exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $1.02 in adjusted EPS versus the $0.48 consensus estimate.

IFP Advisors Inc lowered its holdings in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ - Free Report) by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 196,142 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 14,818 shares during the quarter. IFP Advisors Inc's holdings in Block were worth $14,907,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Transactions at Block

In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,511 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.43, for a total value of $783,991.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 423,262 shares in the company, valued at $34,889,486.66. This trade represents a 2.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Anthony Eisen sold 41,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.85, for a total value of $3,519,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,566,672 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $134,498,791.20. This represents a 2.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 372,006 shares of company stock worth $29,886,161. 11.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on XYZ. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Block from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Block from $82.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research downgraded Block from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Block from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Block from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $95.42.

Block Stock Down 3.3%

Shares of NYSE:XYZ opened at $80.03 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $48.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 142.90, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 2.52. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.21 and a 12 month high of $86.92. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $80.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.64.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.54. Block had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 1.43%.The company had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.62 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, equities research analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.72 earnings per share for the current 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.

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