US Bancorp DE Lowers Stock Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Key Points

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US Bancorp DE reduced its stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ - Free Report) by 62.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 162,174 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 264,291 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE's holdings in Block were worth $10,556,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Block by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,439 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $321,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its position in Block by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 853 shares of the technology company's stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in Block by 57.1% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 443 shares of the technology company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in Block by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 21,183 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,561,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, Vista Investment Partners II LLC boosted its position in Block by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vista Investment Partners II LLC now owns 5,334 shares of the technology company's stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $225,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 268,169 shares in the company, valued at $20,112,675. This trade represents a 1.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total transaction of $225,422.55. Following the transaction, the insider owned 231,262 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,664,323.42. This represents a 1.51% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 49,725 shares of company stock worth $3,401,393 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 10.85% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on XYZ shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of Block from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Zacks Research raised shares of Block from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Block from $55.00 to $51.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Block from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Block from a "hold" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $83.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $82.78.

Block Price Performance

XYZ opened at $71.90 on Friday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $62.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.37. The firm has a market cap of $43.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 2.57. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.27 and a fifty-two week high of $82.50.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.39. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. The company had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current 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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