Spark Investment Management LLC Takes Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Spark Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 8,700 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $591,000. Block makes up approximately 1.6% of Spark Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,055,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter worth approximately $1,628,000. Cidel Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter worth approximately $311,000. Lane Generational LLC acquired a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $6,043,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $62,389,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of the firm’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 $2,811,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 535,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,871,680. This trade represents a 6.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 10,424 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.20, for a total value of $763,036.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 263,507 shares in the company, valued at $19,288,712.40. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 115,441 shares of company stock valued at $8,778,247 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Block Price Performance

Block stock opened at $57.55 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $73.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.27. Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.27 and a 12-month high of $99.26. The stock has a market cap of $34.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.60, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 2.73.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on XYZ shares. Truist Financial raised shares of Block from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Block from $58.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Block in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.36.

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.