Optimum Investment Advisors Buys New Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Optimum Investment Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,129 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of XYZ. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth $319,000. AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs bought a new stake in Block during the second quarter valued at about $1,604,000. City State Bank bought a new stake in Block during the second quarter valued at about $63,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new stake in Block in the second quarter worth about $12,826,000. Finally, CNB Bank bought a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter worth about $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of XYZ stock opened at $79.56 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.39. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $99.26. The stock has a market cap of $48.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.04, a PEG ratio of 3.24 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.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,966 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 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 trade represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Dhananjay Prasanna sold 5,659 shares of the business’s 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 owned 289,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,341,350.24. This trade represents a 1.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 over the last three months. 10.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XYZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $97.00 target price (up from $63.00) on shares of Block in a report on Friday, August 8th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of 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. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Block from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.