Praxis Investment Management Inc. Makes New $508,000 Investment in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Praxis Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 7,480 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $508,000.

Separately, S Bank Fund Management Ltd purchased a new position in Block during the second quarter worth about $92,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Block Price Performance

Block stock opened at $75.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.96. The company has a market capitalization of $45.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 2.71. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.44. Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.27 and a 1 year high of $99.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.32 billion. Block had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 7.85%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In related news, insider Dhananjay Prasanna sold 5,659 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.72, for a total value of $417,181.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 289,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,341,350.24. The trade was a 1.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 16,358 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.60, for a total transaction of $1,285,738.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 308,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,240,004.20. This trade represents a 5.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 144,692 shares of company stock worth $11,058,664. 10.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

XYZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Macquarie lifted their target price on shares of Block from $50.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $97.00 target price (up from $63.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Zacks Research raised shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Block from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.64.

Block Company Profile

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.