Whittier Trust Co. Buys Shares of 1,406 Block, Inc. $XYZ

Whittier Trust Co. bought a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,406 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $96,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. S Bank Fund Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $92,000. Private Trust Co. NA purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $94,000. Financial Perspectives Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $156,000. Finally, SilverOak Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $218,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Dhananjay Prasanna sold 5,659 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.72, for a total value of $417,181.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 289,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,341,350.24. The trade was a 1.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $2,811,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 535,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,871,680. This trade represents a 6.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 123,041 shares of company stock valued at $9,355,075. Company insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on XYZ shares. BNP Paribas downgraded Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Block from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Block from $76.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.42.

Block Stock Up 1.3%

XYZ opened at $79.56 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $76.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.25. 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 cap of $48.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.04, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 2.71. Block, Inc. has a one year low of $44.27 and a one year high of $99.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Block had a return on equity of 7.85% and a net margin of 12.32%.The company had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.32 billion. Block’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate 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.