Sigma Planning Corp Acquires New Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Sigma Planning Corp acquired a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 16,612 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,128,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators bought a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV bought a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Twin Lakes Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, CNB Bank bought a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $51,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

XYZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $82.00 price objective on Block and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $97.00 price objective (up from $63.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Block from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Compass Point reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $65.00 price objective (down from $80.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated 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. Four investment 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 issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $2,811,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 535,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,871,680. This represents a 6.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,609 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.20, for a total value of $264,178.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 127,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,311,918.40. This represents a 2.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 119,441 shares of company stock valued at $9,085,327 in the last three months. Company insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:XYZ opened at $73.65 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $76.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.27 and a 12-month high of $99.26. The company has a market cap of $44.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 2.73.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $6.32 billion. Block’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Block Company 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.