Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,599,467 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 83,369 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Block were worth $169,199,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Block by 23.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,626,485 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,887,366,000 after acquiring an additional 12,709,824 shares during the last quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Block by 12.2% in the third quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 11,603,057 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $838,553,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262,317 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Block by 192.7% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,296,224 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $816,378,000 after acquiring an additional 7,436,380 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Block in the second quarter valued at $535,305,000. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP purchased a new stake in Block in the second quarter valued at $368,213,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total value of $225,422.55. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 231,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,664,323.42. This represents a 1.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,769 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.25, for a total transaction of $106,582.25. Following the transaction, the insider owned 500,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,170,970.75. This trade represents a 0.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 15,806 shares of company stock valued at $857,468 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:XYZ opened at $62.12 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.91. Block, Inc. has a one year low of $44.27 and a one year high of $82.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.58, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 2.61.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.39. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. The business had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. Block’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on XYZ. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Block from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Block from $105.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Block from $55.00 to $51.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.72.

Block Profile

Block (NYSE:XYZ) is a financial technology company that builds products and services to facilitate electronic payments, commerce, and consumer finance. Its principal business lines include a seller-focused ecosystem that provides point-of-sale hardware and software, payment processing, invoicing, payroll and lending services, and a consumer-facing platform that offers peer-to-peer payments, banking-like features, and investing. Block’s portfolio also encompasses music streaming and buy-now-pay-later capabilities through businesses acquired to broaden its reach beyond core payments.

The company was founded as Square in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey and later rebranded to Block to reflect a diversified set of businesses across payments, consumer finance, and emerging technologies.