Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Invests $33,000 in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators purchased a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 480 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of XYZ. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $46,000. Twin Lakes Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $46,000. CNB Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $51,000. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, City State Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $63,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on XYZ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Block from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $82.00 target price on Block and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Macquarie increased their price target on Block from $50.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $94.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.42.

Block Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE XYZ opened at $80.20 on Wednesday. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $99.26. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $48.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 2.71.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.32 billion. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $2,811,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 535,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,871,680. This trade represents a 6.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Dhananjay Prasanna sold 5,659 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.72, for a total value of $417,181.48. Following the sale, the insider owned 289,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,341,350.24. This trade represents a 1.92% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 123,041 shares of company stock worth $9,355,075 over the last quarter. 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.