IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd Makes New $3.83 Million Investment in Block, Inc. $XYZ

IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd purchased a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 56,435 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,834,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in XYZ. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $8,551,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $5,769,000. Bessemer Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at $62,389,000. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at $994,000. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at about $6,094,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,966 shares of Block 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 $729,511.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 298,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,845,149.20. This trade represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,609 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.20, for a total transaction of $264,178.80. Following the sale, the insider owned 127,212 shares in the company, valued at $9,311,918.40. This represents a 2.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 123,041 shares of company stock worth $9,355,075 in the last three months. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Block Trading Up 0.8%

Block stock opened at $80.14 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $48.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 2.71. Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.27 and a 1 year high of $99.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $76.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.96.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $6.05 billion during 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%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Block from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Block from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Macquarie lifted their price target on Block from $50.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Block from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Four investment 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.42.

Block 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.