Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New $565,000 Investment in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Key Points

• Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC invested approximately $565,000 in Block, Inc. by acquiring 8,314 shares during the 2nd quarter.
• Institutional investors own 70.44% of Block's stock, with multiple firms, including Nordea Investment Management, also acquiring new stakes.
• Block reported $0.62 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, but experienced a 1.6% decline in revenue compared to the previous year.

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 8,314 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $565,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,105,000. Praxis Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Block in the second quarter worth about $508,000. SilverOak Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Private Trust Co. NA bought a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $94,000. Finally, S Bank Fund Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $92,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company's stock.

Block Stock Up 0.9%

XYZ stock opened at $75.21 on Monday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $76.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.54. The company has a market capitalization of $45.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 2.71. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $99.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.32 billion. Block had a return on equity of 7.85% and a net margin of 12.32%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $60,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 102,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,184,640. This represents a 0.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 1,050 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total value of $78,508.50. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 253,956 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,988,290.12. This represents a 0.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 124,341 shares of company stock worth $9,459,075. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

XYZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Block from $60.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Block from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $82.00 target price on shares of Block and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on Block from $71.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Block has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $80.64.

About Block

Square, Inc provides payment and point-of-sale solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's commerce ecosystem includes point-of-sale software and hardware that enables sellers to turn mobile and computing devices into payment and point-of-sale solutions. It offers hardware products, including Magstripe reader, which enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Contactless and chip reader that accepts EMV® chip cards and Near Field Communication payments; Chip card reader, which accepts EMV® chip cards and enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Square Stand, which enables an iPad to be used as a payment terminal or full point of sale solution; and Square Register that combines its hardware, point-of-sale software, and payments technology, as well as managed payments solutions.

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