Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Lowers Holdings in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp trimmed its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 28.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 443,864 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 175,853 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned about 0.07% of Block worth $32,078,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,730,489,000. Sands Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $702,446,000. Geode Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth $634,721,000. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter worth $627,233,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at $535,305,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,608 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total value of $221,531.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 123,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,357.20. This trade represents a 2.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 822 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total value of $52,591.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 242,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,529,097.64. This represents a 0.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 54,796 shares of company stock worth $3,395,943. 10.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on XYZ. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Truist Financial set a $72.00 price objective on Block in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Block from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Block from $55.00 to $51.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Block has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.97.

Block Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of XYZ opened at $66.78 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.41. Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.27 and a 1 year high of $94.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.18 and a quick ratio of 2.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 2.66.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.29. Block had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 5.54%. The company had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.