Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Acquires New Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 20,845 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $794,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $621,703,000. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Block by 41.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 16,023,441 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,042,966,000 after purchasing an additional 4,727,217 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Block by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,406,899 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $934,121,000 after purchasing an additional 67,560 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter worth $535,305,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Block in the 4th quarter worth about $484,387,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Citigroup upped their target price on Block from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Block to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Barclays began coverage on Block in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $100.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.84.

Block Price Performance

Shares of XYZ opened at $83.28 on Thursday. Block, Inc. has a one year low of $48.21 and a one year high of $86.75. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $79.26 and its 200-day moving average is $69.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a current ratio of 2.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 148.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 2.53.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.54. The firm 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, Director Anthony Mathew Eisen sold 6,000 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.48, for a total transaction of $488,880.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,488,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $121,296,994.56. This trade represents a 0.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,511 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.43, for a total value of $783,991.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 423,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,889,486.66. This trade represents a 2.20% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 495,756 shares of company stock worth $39,090,259 in the last three months. 11.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Block

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.