Empowered Funds LLC Invests $5.26 Million in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 138,160 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,261,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of XYZ. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $621,703,000. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Block by 41.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 16,023,441 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,042,966,000 after acquiring an additional 4,727,217 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Block by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,406,899 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $934,121,000 after acquiring an additional 67,560 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at $535,305,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Block during the fourth quarter valued at $484,387,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Block from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Block from $82.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Block from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their price objective on shares of Block from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.84.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, Director Anthony Mathew Eisen sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.00, for a total transaction of $492,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,476,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $121,087,104. This represents a 0.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 1,317 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.48, for a total value of $107,309.16. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 460,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,491,229.44. This represents a 0.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 366,006 shares of company stock worth $29,155,301. Insiders own 11.37% of the company’s stock.

Block Price Performance

Shares of XYZ stock opened at $81.96 on Tuesday. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.21 and a 52 week high of $86.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.24 billion, a PE ratio of 146.36, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 2.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a current ratio of 2.21. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $79.82 and its 200-day moving average is $70.35.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.54. Block had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 1.43%.The business had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.62 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Block has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.020-4.020 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.020-1.020 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Block Company Profile

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.