Kentucky Retirement Systems Makes New $2.42 Million Investment in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Kentucky Retirement Systems bought a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 35,593 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,418,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $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. acquired a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA acquired a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Block from $58.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Citigroup raised shares of Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Three 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.42.

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,959 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction of $611,482.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 272,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,760,051. This trade represents a 3.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 10,417 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 $639,603.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 243,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,953,356. The trade was a 4.10% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 92,617 shares of company stock valued at $6,474,580 in the last ninety days. 10.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Block Stock Performance

NYSE:XYZ opened at $64.04 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $38.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 2.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $69.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.22. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $95.78.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company earned $0.53 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Block 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.