Metis Global Partners LLC Makes New $558,000 Investment in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Metis Global Partners LLC purchased a new position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 8,210 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $558,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. S Bank Fund Management Ltd purchased a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth $92,000. Praxis Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $508,000. Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at about $3,105,000. SilverOak Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter worth about $218,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA purchased a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter worth about $94,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were 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 approximately $42,871,680. This trade represents a 6.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $60,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 102,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,184,640. The trade was a 0.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 119,041 shares of company stock valued at $9,052,531 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on XYZ shares. Bank of America dropped their target price on Block from $94.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Block from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Block from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Block has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.58.

Block Stock Down 0.5%

XYZ opened at $65.61 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $75.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.18. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.27 and a fifty-two week high of $99.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.23, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 2.73.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.29. Block had a return on equity of 7.41% and a net margin of 12.99%.The firm had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. Block’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

About Block

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.