Danske Bank A S Purchases 26,200 Shares of Block, Inc. $XYZ

Danske Bank A S raised its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 10.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 285,256 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 26,200 shares during the period. Danske Bank A S’s holdings in Block were worth $18,567,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Block by 3.2% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,439 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its position in Block by 23.1% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 853 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its position in Block by 57.1% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 443 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in Block by 0.8% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 21,183 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,561,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vista Investment Partners II LLC increased its position in Block by 3.6% during the third quarter. Vista Investment Partners II LLC now owns 5,334 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $385,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. HSBC raised shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Zacks Research raised shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They set a “market perform” rating and a $74.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Block from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other Block news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $225,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 268,169 shares in the company, valued at $20,112,675. This represents a 1.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 10,349 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $517,450.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 503,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,189,200. The trade was a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 49,725 shares of company stock valued at $3,401,393 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of XYZ opened at $71.90 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.27 and a 12-month high of $82.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $62.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 2.57. 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 (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its earnings results 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 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

About Block

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.