Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd Decreases Holdings in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd cut its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 31.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 119,624 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 53,892 shares during the quarter. Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd’s holdings in Block were worth $8,645,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of XYZ. Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new stake in Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. City Holding Co. acquired a new stake in Block in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block during the third quarter worth $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of XYZ opened at $64.36 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.11 billion, a PE ratio of 30.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 2.64. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $61.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 2.20. Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.27 and a 12-month high of $82.50.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $6.25 billion for the quarter. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on XYZ shares. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Block from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Block from $96.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Raymond James Financial raised Block to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.97.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,173 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.09, for a total value of $76,350.57. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 98,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,405,637.08. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 822 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total value of $52,591.56. Following the transaction, the insider owned 242,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,529,097.64. This represents a 0.34% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 16,797 shares of company stock worth $940,298. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

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.