Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Increases Stock Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 3.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 261,462 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,141 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Block were worth $15,735,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,866,000. Brown Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $516,000. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $385,000. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,861,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

XYZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Block from a “buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Block from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Rosenblatt Securities set a $100.00 target price on Block in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on Block in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $100.00 target price on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Block presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.84.

Block Trading Up 0.9%

NYSE:XYZ opened at $77.19 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.21 and a 12 month high of $84.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $74.44 and its 200 day moving average is $67.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.94 billion, a PE ratio of 60.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 2.54.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.55. Block had a return on equity of 7.02% and a net margin of 3.30%.The business had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. Block’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Block has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.860-0.860 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.850-3.850 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In related news, Director Anthony Mathew Eisen sold 6,000 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.35, for a total value of $470,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,838,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $144,059,951.20. This trade represents a 0.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 43,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $3,467,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 557,654 shares in the company, valued at $44,612,320. This represents a 7.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 323,300 shares of company stock worth $24,742,756. Corporate insiders own 11.37% 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.