Cidel Asset Management Inc. Makes New $311,000 Investment in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Cidel Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 4,572 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. S Bank Fund Management Ltd purchased a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $92,000. Private Trust Co. NA acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter worth about $94,000. SilverOak Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Hartline Investment Corp acquired a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $265,000. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $290,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other Block news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,609 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.20, for a total value of $264,178.80. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 127,212 shares in the company, valued at $9,311,918.40. This represents a 2.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,966 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.20, for a total transaction of $729,511.20. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 298,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,845,149.20. The trade was a 3.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 124,341 shares of company stock valued at $9,459,075 over the last three months. 10.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on XYZ. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Block from $60.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Block from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Compass Point restated a “sell” rating and set a $65.00 price target (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Block in a report on Friday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.64.

Block Stock Performance

NYSE:XYZ opened at $75.21 on Monday. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.27 and a 12 month high of $99.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.85 billion, a PE ratio of 16.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 2.71. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $76.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.54.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.41. Block had a return on equity of 7.85% and a net margin of 12.32%.The business had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.32 billion. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.