Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Invests $368,000 in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI bought a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 9,586 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $368,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in XYZ. Baird Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at $1,866,000. Brown Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth about $516,000. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth about $385,000. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,861,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

XYZ has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Block from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird set a $105.00 target price on Block in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Block from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.23.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, Director Anthony Mathew Eisen sold 135,750 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.81, for a total value of $10,426,957.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,032,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $156,153,961.90. The trade was a 6.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 8,971 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.85, for a total transaction of $770,160.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 454,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,999,508.75. The trade was a 1.94% 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 461,070 shares of company stock valued at $36,261,272. 11.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Block Trading Down 1.2%

XYZ stock opened at $79.96 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.21 and a 52 week high of $86.75. The company has a market capitalization of $48.04 billion, a PE ratio of 142.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 2.53. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a current ratio of 2.21.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.54. The business had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter. Block had a net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 8.10%. Block’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.62 EPS. Block has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.020-4.020 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.020-1.020 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

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.