IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd Takes $3.83 Million Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 56,435 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,834,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of XYZ. ARK Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $210,016,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter worth approximately $204,223,000. Bessemer Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter worth approximately $62,389,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,353,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $17,156,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Block Stock Up 0.8%

XYZ opened at $80.14 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $76.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.64. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $99.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.96. The firm has a market cap of $48.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 2.71.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.41. Block had a return on equity of 7.85% and a net margin of 12.32%.The company had revenue of $6.05 billion for 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. Research analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

XYZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Block from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Mizuho upped their target price on Block from $71.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $97.00 target price (up from $63.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Four equities research 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 given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.42.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other Block news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,609 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.20, for a total transaction of $264,178.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 127,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,311,918.40. The trade was a 2.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were 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 directly owned 535,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,871,680. This represents 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 have sold 123,041 shares of company stock worth $9,355,075. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

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.