LJI Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Stake in Block, Inc. $XYZ

LJI Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 7,110 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $483,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of XYZ. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the second quarter valued at $46,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new stake in Block in the second quarter worth about $73,000. S Bank Fund Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Block in the second quarter worth about $92,000. Private Trust Co. NA purchased a new stake in Block in the second quarter worth about $94,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. purchased a new stake in Block in the second quarter worth about $96,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,966 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 298,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,845,149.20. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,311,918.40. The trade was a 2.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 123,041 shares of company stock valued at $9,355,075 in the last 90 days. 10.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

XYZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $97.00 price target (up previously from $63.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 8th. BNP Paribas cut Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Truist Financial upped their price target on Block from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $82.00 price target on Block and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.30.

Block Stock Performance

NYSE XYZ opened at $78.59 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $47.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 2.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $76.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.04. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $99.26.

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

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.