Cidel Asset Management Inc. Buys New Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Cidel Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,572 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. S Bank Fund Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter worth approximately $92,000. Praxis Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $508,000. Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $3,105,000. SilverOak Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Block in the second quarter valued at $218,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at about $94,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Up 0.9%

XYZ opened at $75.21 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.96. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.27 and a 12 month high of $99.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 2.71. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.54.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.32 billion. Block had a return on equity of 7.85% and a net margin of 12.32%.The company’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on XYZ shares. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Block in a report on Friday, August 8th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Block from $76.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. BTIG Research set a $80.00 target price on Block and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Block from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.64.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $60,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 102,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,184,640. This represents a 0.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $2,811,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 535,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,871,680. This trade represents a 6.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 124,341 shares of company stock valued at $9,459,075. 10.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Block

Square, Inc provides payment and point-of-sale solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's commerce ecosystem includes point-of-sale software and hardware that enables sellers to turn mobile and computing devices into payment and point-of-sale solutions. It offers hardware products, including Magstripe reader, which enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Contactless and chip reader that accepts EMV® chip cards and Near Field Communication payments; Chip card reader, which accepts EMV® chip cards and enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Square Stand, which enables an iPad to be used as a payment terminal or full point of sale solution; and Square Register that combines its hardware, point-of-sale software, and payments technology, as well as managed payments solutions.