62,783 Shares in Block, Inc. $XYZ Purchased by Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund purchased a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 62,783 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,537,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of XYZ. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Block by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,201 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $593,000 after buying an additional 361 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Block in the third quarter valued at $27,000. City Holding Co. acquired a new position in Block during the third quarter worth $27,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new position in Block during the second quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at $26,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on XYZ. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a report on Monday, December 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Compass Point raised shares of Block from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Block from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.94.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Arnaud Weber sold 7,095 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction of $435,633.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 259,136 shares in the company, valued at $15,910,950.40. The trade was a 2.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $500,946.60. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 521,352 shares in the company, valued at $32,302,969.92. This trade represents a 1.53% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,796 shares of company stock worth $3,395,943. 10.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Block Trading Down 0.8%

XYZ opened at $69.58 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.27 and a 1-year high of $94.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.28 billion, a PE ratio of 14.03, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 2.66. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $65.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.53.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 previous year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. Block’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate 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.