Jasper Ridge Partners L.P. Takes Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Jasper Ridge Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 7,927 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $538,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,055,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $415,575,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,628,000. Korea Investment CORP bought a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter worth $13,937,000. Finally, Shelton Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter worth $1,562,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,959 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction of $611,482.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 272,965 shares in the company, valued at $16,760,051. The trade was a 3.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Arnaud Weber sold 7,095 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction of $435,633.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 259,136 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,910,950.40. The trade was a 2.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 99,198 shares of company stock worth $6,968,155. Corporate insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on XYZ shares. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Block from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Bank of America upped their price target on Block from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.42.

Block Stock Up 2.8%

NYSE:XYZ opened at $63.28 on Thursday. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $98.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 2.65. The company has a quick ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $69.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.09.

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