Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 323,539 Shares of Block, Inc. $XYZ

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. decreased its position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,682,836 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 323,539 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Block were worth $193,889,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block in the third quarter valued at $27,000. City Holding Co. acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, SouthState Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

XYZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $94.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Block from $96.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Block from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Block currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 10,417 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total value of $639,603.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 243,540 shares in the company, valued at $14,953,356. The trade was a 4.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total value of $221,531.20. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 123,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,357.20. This represents a 2.85% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,796 shares of company stock valued at $3,395,943. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Block Price Performance

Shares of XYZ stock opened at $70.25 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $64.97 and its 200-day moving average is $71.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.69 billion, a PE ratio of 14.16, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 2.66. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $94.25.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $6.11 billion during the quarter. Block had a return on equity of 5.54% and a net margin of 12.99%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS 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.