Insider Selling: Block (NYSE:XYZ) Insider Sells 406 Shares of Stock

Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 406 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total transaction of $30,356.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 126,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,481,284.62. This trade represents a 0.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

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

• On Thursday, August 21st, Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,609 shares of Block stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.20, for a total transaction of $264,178.80.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of Block stock opened at $77.75 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $47.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 2.71. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $99.26. The company’s fifty day moving average is $76.05 and its 200 day moving average is $66.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.32 billion. Block had a return on equity of 7.85% and a net margin of 12.32%.Block’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on XYZ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Block from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Block from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Macquarie boosted their target price on shares of Block from $50.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Block from $57.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Twenty-four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.64.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nemes Rush Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. SouthState Corp acquired a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Block in the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA acquired a new stake in Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Block

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.