Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Takes $196,000 Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 2,891 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of XYZ. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Block in the second quarter valued at $2,055,000. Lane Generational LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth $6,043,000. Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $62,389,000. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd acquired a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,094,000. Finally, Cidel Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at about $311,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Piper Sandler restated an “underweight” rating and set a $58.00 price objective (up from $50.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 8th. BTIG Research set a $80.00 target price on Block and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $82.00 price target on Block and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Block from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.42.

Block Price Performance

Block stock opened at $72.60 on Wednesday. Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.27 and a 1 year high of $99.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $76.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.65. The company has a market cap of $44.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.55, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 2.73.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.41. Block had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 7.85%. The company had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.32 billion. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, insider Dhananjay Prasanna sold 5,659 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.72, for a total value of $417,181.48. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 289,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,341,350.24. The trade was a 1.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $2,811,600.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 535,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,871,680. The trade was a 6.15% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 119,441 shares of company stock valued at $9,085,327 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Block Profile

Square, Inc provides payment and point-of-sale solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's commerce ecosystem includes point-of-sale software and hardware that enables sellers to turn mobile and computing devices into payment and point-of-sale solutions. It offers hardware products, including Magstripe reader, which enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Contactless and chip reader that accepts EMV® chip cards and Near Field Communication payments; Chip card reader, which accepts EMV® chip cards and enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Square Stand, which enables an iPad to be used as a payment terminal or full point of sale solution; and Square Register that combines its hardware, point-of-sale software, and payments technology, as well as managed payments solutions.