541,204 Shares in Block, Inc. $XYZ Acquired by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 541,204 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,353,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of XYZ. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter worth $46,000. S Bank Fund Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $92,000. Private Trust Co. NA bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth $94,000. Financial Perspectives Inc purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter worth $156,000. Finally, SilverOak Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter worth $218,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Block from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $97.00 target price (up previously from $63.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Block in a research note on Tuesday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $91.00 price target for the company. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Block in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Block from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Block has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.03.

Block Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of XYZ opened at $77.71 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 2.71. Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.27 and a 1 year high of $99.26. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.79.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.32 billion. Block had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 7.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,609 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.20, for a total value of $264,178.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 127,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,311,918.40. This trade represents a 2.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $2,811,600.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 535,896 shares in the company, valued at $42,871,680. The trade was a 6.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 123,041 shares of company stock worth $9,355,075. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Block Company Profile

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.