LJI Wealth Management LLC Acquires Shares of 7,110 Block, Inc. $XYZ

LJI Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 7,110 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $483,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new stake in Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $73,000. S Bank Fund Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $92,000. Private Trust Co. NA purchased a new stake in Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $94,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. purchased a new stake in Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $96,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, insider Dhananjay Prasanna sold 5,659 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.72, for a total transaction of $417,181.48. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 289,492 shares in the company, valued at $21,341,350.24. This trade represents a 1.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,966 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.20, for a total value of $729,511.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 298,431 shares in the company, valued at $21,845,149.20. The trade was a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 123,041 shares of company stock worth $9,355,075 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

XYZ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley upped 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. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Block from $76.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $82.00 price target on Block and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Block from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Compass Point reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $65.00 price target (down from $80.00) on shares of Block in a report on Friday, August 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Block currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.30.

Block Trading Up 3.5%

XYZ opened at $78.59 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $76.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.04. The company has a market capitalization of $47.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.83, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 2.71. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $99.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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

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.