Soltis Investment Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 3,017 Block, Inc. $XYZ

Soltis Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 3,017 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

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

Block Trading Down 7.7%

Block stock opened at $65.49 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week 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 market capitalization of $39.92 billion, a PE ratio of 13.20, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 2.73. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.89.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter. Block had a return on equity of 8.49% and a net margin of 12.99%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.53 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,276 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.69, for a total transaction of $97,856.44. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 282,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,697,441.56. The trade was a 0.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $60,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 102,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,184,640. The trade was a 0.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 119,041 shares of company stock valued at $9,052,531 in the last 90 days. 10.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on XYZ. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Block from $94.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Block from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Block from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $94.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on Block from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.58.

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.