Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Takes Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 56,000 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,804,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $46,000. CNB Bank bought a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $51,000. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $52,000. City State Bank bought a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $63,000. Finally, Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $73,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Block Stock Down 4.5%

XYZ opened at $76.60 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $46.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.40, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 2.71. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $76.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.99. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $99.26.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Block from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $97.00 price objective (up from $63.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Block from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Block from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Block from $75.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note 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 issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.42.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $60,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 102,308 shares in the company, valued at $8,184,640. This represents a 0.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total transaction of $78,508.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 253,956 shares in the company, valued at $18,988,290.12. This represents a 0.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 123,041 shares of company stock worth $9,355,075 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 10.85% 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.