Sands Capital Management LLC Decreases Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Sands Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 48.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,929,883 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 5,673,174 shares during the period. Block accounts for 1.2% of Sands Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Sands Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $385,976,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Block by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,626,485 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,887,366,000 after purchasing an additional 12,709,824 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Block by 41.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 16,023,441 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,042,966,000 after purchasing an additional 4,727,217 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Block by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,406,899 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $934,121,000 after purchasing an additional 67,560 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $535,305,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 4th quarter worth approximately $484,387,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Down 0.0%

Block stock opened at $69.49 on Monday. Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $48.21 and a 1-year high of $82.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 2.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.36.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.55. Block had a net margin of 3.30% and a return on equity of 7.02%. The business had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Block has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.860-0.860 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.850-3.850 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total value of $555,369.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 601,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,874,146.02. This trade represents a 1.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 firm’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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 500,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,561,200. The trade was a 5.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 199,680 shares of company stock worth $15,009,081. 11.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Block from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $91.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.42.

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.