Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 12,819 Shares of Block, Inc. $XYZ

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group increased its stake in Block by 2.1% in the first quarter, buying 12,819 more shares and bringing its total holdings to 637,726 shares worth about $38.4 million.
• Block reported strong quarterly results, posting $0.85 EPS versus $0.30 expected and revenue of $6.06 billion, up 4.9% year over year. The company also guided for Q2 2026 EPS of 0.860 and FY 2026 EPS of 3.850.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable overall, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.64, even as some insiders recently sold shares under pre-arranged trading plans.

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ - Free Report) by 2.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 637,726 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 12,819 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of Block worth $38,378,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 443 shares of the technology company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Block by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 707 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Block by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 5,270 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $343,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA raised its position in Block by 33.3% in the third quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA now owns 800 shares of the technology company's stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Block by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,696 shares of the technology company's stock worth $501,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company's stock.

Block Stock Performance

XYZ opened at $80.00 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.99. The firm has a market cap of $47.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.50, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 2.54. Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $48.21 and a 1-year high of $84.08.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.55. Block had a net margin of 3.30% and a return on equity of 7.02%. The firm had revenue of $6.06 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter 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. Equities analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, Director Anthony Mathew Eisen sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.35, for a total transaction of $470,100.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,838,672 shares of the company's stock, valued at $144,059,951.20. This trade represents a 0.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $3,467,840.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 557,654 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,612,320. This represents a 7.21% 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. Insiders sold a total of 357,219 shares of company stock valued at $27,286,681 in the last quarter. 11.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on XYZ. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Block from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Weiss Ratings raised Block from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Clear Str upgraded Block to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Block has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $88.64.

Block Company 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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