North Dakota State Investment Board Acquires Shares of 18,672 Block, Inc. $XYZ

Key Points

• North Dakota State Investment Board opened a new position in Block during the fourth quarter, buying 18,672 shares worth about $1.215 million.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on Block, with several firms raising price targets and the stock carrying a Moderate Buy consensus rating and average target price of $84.94.
• Block posted stronger-than-expected results for the latest quarter, reporting EPS of $0.85 versus the $0.30 estimate, while revenue rose 4.9% year over year to $6.06 billion.

North Dakota State Investment Board acquired a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 18,672 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,215,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Block in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in Block by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 443 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. RMG Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Rachor Investment Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Block from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Block from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Block from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. HSBC raised shares of Block from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $77.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Block in a report on Friday, May 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $84.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total value of $225,422.55. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 231,262 shares in the company, valued at $14,664,323.42. This represents a 1.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,769 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.25, for a total transaction of $106,582.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 500,763 shares in the company, valued at $30,170,970.75. This represents a 0.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 49,725 shares of company stock valued at $3,401,393 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.37% of the company's stock.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE XYZ opened at $69.18 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company's 50-day moving average price is $65.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.82. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.21 and a 52 week high of $82.50. The stock has a market cap of $41.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.04, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.57.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.55. Block had a net margin of 3.30% and a return on equity of 7.02%. The company had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. The business's revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Block has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.860-0.860 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.850-3.850 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Block Profile

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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