Prosperity Consulting Group LLC Makes New Investment in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Prosperity Consulting Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 3,545 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $241,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of XYZ. ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter worth $210,016,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth $204,223,000. Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at about $62,389,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in Block during the second quarter worth about $36,353,000. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Block during the second quarter worth about $21,352,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on XYZ shares. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Block from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $97.00 price objective (up previously from $63.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 8th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, BTIG Research set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Block and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Four research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.42.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $2,811,600.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 535,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,871,680. This represents a 6.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 750 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 $60,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 102,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,184,640. This trade represents a 0.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 119,041 shares of company stock worth $9,052,531 in the last quarter. Insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE XYZ opened at $70.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $76.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.69. 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 $43.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.19, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 2.73.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $6.11 billion during the quarter. Block had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 7.85%. The business’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.