Strs Ohio Has $15 Million Stock Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Strs Ohio reduced its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 230,512 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 17,510 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Block were worth $15,004,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of XYZ. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Block by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,626,485 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,887,366,000 after acquiring an additional 12,709,824 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $535,305,000. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 192.7% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,296,224 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $816,378,000 after purchasing an additional 7,436,380 shares during the period. Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter worth $368,213,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 241.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,778,298 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $273,058,000 after purchasing an additional 2,671,713 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,769 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.25, for a total value of $106,582.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 500,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,170,970.75. This represents a 0.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 30,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $2,318,925.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 500,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,561,200. This trade represents a 5.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 49,725 shares of company stock worth $3,401,393 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Block from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Block from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.78.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:XYZ opened at $71.90 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $62.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 2.57. Block, Inc. has a one year low of $44.27 and a one year high of $82.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 2.20.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. Block’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share 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.