Whittier Trust Co. Invests $96,000 in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Whittier Trust Co. bought a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 1,406 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $96,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Block in the second quarter valued at $46,000. S Bank Fund Management Ltd acquired a new position in Block in the second quarter valued at $92,000. Private Trust Co. NA acquired a new position in Block in the second quarter valued at $94,000. Financial Perspectives Inc acquired a new position in Block in the second quarter valued at $156,000. Finally, SilverOak Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Block in the second quarter valued at $218,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 535,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,871,680. This represents a 6.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total value of $78,508.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 253,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,988,290.12. The trade was a 0.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 123,041 shares of company stock valued at $9,355,075. 10.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Block Price Performance

XYZ stock opened at $79.56 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $76.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.25. Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.27 and a 12-month high of $99.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $48.50 billion, a PE ratio of 17.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 2.71.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on XYZ. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Block from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $82.00 target price on Block and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. BNP Paribas lowered Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on Block from $75.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.42.

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.