Amrita Ahuja Sells 30,919 Shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock
by Jessica Moore · The Cerbat GemBlock, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ – Get Free Report) CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 30,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $2,318,925.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 500,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,561,200. This represents a 5.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
Block Trading Up 1.0%
Shares of Block stock traded up $0.72 on Wednesday, reaching $72.47. 3,466,731 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,937,180. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.27 and a fifty-two week high of $82.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 2.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $60.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.69.
Block (NYSE:XYZ – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.39. Block had a return on equity of 6.66% and a net margin of 5.40%.The firm had revenue of $6.25 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. Block’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.23 EPS for the current year.
Institutional Trading of Block
A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the 1st quarter valued at $279,000. Sicart Associates LLC raised its holdings in Block by 6.1% during the first quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 104,992 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,318,000 after buying an additional 6,018 shares in the last quarter. Independent Wealth Network Inc. raised its holdings in Block by 12.1% during the first quarter. Independent Wealth Network Inc. now owns 4,065 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Block by 108.2% during the 1st quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,742 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $887,000 after acquiring an additional 7,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block during the 1st quarter valued at about $366,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of analysts have recently issued reports on XYZ shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $72.00 to $93.00 in a report on Friday, February 27th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Block from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $74.00 price objective on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.67.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on Block
Block Company 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.