Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Invests $617,000 in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Key Points

• Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. invested $617,000 in Block, Inc., acquiring 9,085 shares during the second quarter.
• Several institutional investors made significant investments in Block, with a total ownership of 70.44% among institutional investors.
• Block reported earnings of $0.62 per share for the quarter, significantly beating the consensus estimate of $0.21, although its revenue declined 1.6% year-over-year.

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 9,085 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $617,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in XYZ. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $310,000. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $565,000. Private Trust Co. NA bought a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $94,000. SilverOak Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $218,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,105,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on XYZ shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $100.00 price target (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Block from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $94.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Block currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $82.30.

Block Stock Performance

XYZ opened at $78.59 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $47.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.96. The business's fifty day moving average is $76.37 and its 200-day moving average is $68.04.

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

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 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 $2,811,600.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 535,896 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $42,871,680. This represents a 6.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 406 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total value of $30,356.62. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 126,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,481,284.62. This trade represents a 0.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 123,041 shares of company stock worth $9,355,075 in the last quarter. 10.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Block Profile

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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