Marshall Wace LLP Takes Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,512,429 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,739,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nemes Rush Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter worth $26,000. Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Block in the second quarter worth about $26,000. SouthState Corp purchased a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Block during the second quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA purchased a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Block from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. BNP Paribas downgraded Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $94.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total transaction of $500,946.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 521,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,302,969.92. The trade was a 1.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 10,417 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction of $639,603.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 243,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,953,356. This represents a 4.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 99,198 shares of company stock valued at $6,968,155 in the last ninety days. 10.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE XYZ opened at $61.02 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.27 and a 12-month high of $98.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 2.65. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $70.62 and a 200 day moving average of $70.90.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.29. Block had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 5.54%. The business had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.53 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

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.