Insider Selling: Block (NYSE:XYZ) Insider Sells 331 Shares of Stock

Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 331 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total value of $21,177.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 122,867 shares in the company, valued at $7,861,030.66. This represents a 0.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Chrysty Esperanza also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, November 21st, Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,608 shares of Block stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction of $221,531.20.

Block Stock Up 2.2%

NYSE:XYZ traded up $1.49 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $69.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,467,033 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,802,261. Block, Inc. has a one year low of $44.27 and a one year high of $94.25. The business’s 50-day moving average is $65.35 and its 200-day moving average is $71.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.18 and a quick ratio of 2.18. The company has a market cap of $42.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 2.66.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on XYZ shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research downgraded Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Block from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Block from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Block presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.12.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. City Holding Co. bought a new position in Block in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC acquired a new position in Block during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in Block in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Block

Block (NYSE:XYZ) is a financial technology company that builds products and services to facilitate electronic payments, commerce, and consumer finance. Its principal business lines include a seller-focused ecosystem that provides point-of-sale hardware and software, payment processing, invoicing, payroll and lending services, and a consumer-facing platform that offers peer-to-peer payments, banking-like features, and investing. Block’s portfolio also encompasses music streaming and buy-now-pay-later capabilities through businesses acquired to broaden its reach beyond core payments.

The company was founded as Square in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey and later rebranded to Block to reflect a diversified set of businesses across payments, consumer finance, and emerging technologies.