Block (NYSE:XYZ) Insider Brian Grassadonia Sells 1,983 Shares

Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,983 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.52, for a total transaction of $135,875.16. Following the sale, the insider owned 518,331 shares in the company, valued at $35,516,040.12. The trade was a 0.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Brian Grassadonia also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, January 2nd, Brian Grassadonia sold 1,038 shares of Block stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total value of $66,411.24.
• On Monday, November 24th, Brian Grassadonia sold 8,085 shares of Block stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $500,946.60.
• On Friday, November 21st, Brian Grassadonia sold 6,460 shares of Block stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total value of $396,644.00.
• On Wednesday, October 8th, Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of Block stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $2,811,600.00.

Block Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE XYZ opened at $69.94 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market cap of $42.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 2.66. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $94.25. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.45.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly 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. Block had a return on equity of 5.54% and a net margin of 12.99%.The firm 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Block by 23.1% during 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 buying an additional 12,709,824 shares in the last quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC grew its position in Block by 12.2% during the third quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 11,603,057 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $838,553,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262,317 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Block by 192.7% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,296,224 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $816,378,000 after acquiring an additional 7,436,380 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $634,721,000. Finally, Dragoneer Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $627,233,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

XYZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Block from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Citigroup raised Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Block from $96.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Block from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.12.

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.