MUFG Securities EMEA plc Buys 11,933 Shares of Block, Inc. $XYZ

MUFG Securities EMEA plc raised its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 113.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 22,452 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,933 shares during the quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc’s holdings in Block were worth $1,461,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its stake in Block by 24.0% in the third quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 179,271 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,956,000 after acquiring an additional 34,678 shares during the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Block in the third quarter valued at $5,400,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Block by 2,385.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 612,358 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $44,255,000 after acquiring an additional 587,719 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,323,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Block by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,626,485 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,887,366,000 after purchasing an additional 12,709,824 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on XYZ. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Block from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Block in a report on Friday, May 8th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Block from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Block from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Arete Research upgraded Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,166 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total transaction of $555,369.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 601,002 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,874,146.02. The trade was a 1.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 30,919 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $2,318,925.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 500,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,561,200. This trade represents a 5.81% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 45,930 shares of company stock valued at $3,347,924. 11.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE XYZ opened at $74.27 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.21 and a 12 month high of $82.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $67.30 and a 200-day moving average of $63.84. The company has a market capitalization of $44.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.56.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.55. Block had a return on equity of 7.02% and a net margin of 3.30%.The company had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Block has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.860-0.860 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.850-3.850 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.42 EPS for the current year.

Block 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.