Van ECK Associates Corp Boosts Holdings in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 4.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 805,998 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,131 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Block were worth $58,249,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Savant Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at about $343,000. Metis Global Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter worth about $558,000. AE Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter worth about $516,000. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Block in the second quarter valued at about $267,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE XYZ opened at $65.59 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market capitalization of $39.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 2.65. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $82.50. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.60.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Friday, February 27th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Block from $105.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Block from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,173 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.09, for a total value of $76,350.57. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 98,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,405,637.08. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 10,349 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $517,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 503,784 shares in the company, valued at $25,189,200. This represents a 2.01% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,352 shares of company stock valued at $1,165,720. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

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.