TimesSquare Capital Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Block, Inc. $XYZ

TimesSquare Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 264,975 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,000,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,055,000. Lane Generational LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,043,000. Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $62,389,000. Cidel Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $311,000. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter worth $6,094,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other Block news, insider Dhananjay Prasanna sold 5,659 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.72, for a total transaction of $417,181.48. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,966 shares of the business’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 owned 298,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,845,149.20. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 119,041 shares of company stock valued at $9,052,531 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Block Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE XYZ opened at $65.61 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.99 billion, a PE ratio of 13.23, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 2.73. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.08. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $99.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.29. Block had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 7.41%. The business had revenue of $6.11 billion during the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Block in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $94.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Bank of America decreased their target price on Block from $94.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Block from $71.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.58.

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.