Block (NYSE:XYZ) Rating Increased to Outperform at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $80.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $87.00.

XYZ has been the subject of several other research reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer raised Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays decreased their target price on Block from $112.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Macquarie reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on Block from $101.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.41.

Block Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of XYZ stock opened at $59.75 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.01 billion, a PE ratio of 13.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.78. The company has a 50-day moving average of $72.94. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Block has a 1-year low of $53.54 and a 1-year high of $99.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.11). Block had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 5.80%. The company had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.23 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 2,044 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.72, for a total value of $177,255.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 83,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,281,531.52. The trade was a 2.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 3,253 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total value of $221,236.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 548,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,310,081.97. This trade represents a 0.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 21,967 shares of company stock valued at $1,649,113. 10.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Block by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,690,075 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $581,923,000 after purchasing an additional 133,002 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Block by 2.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,202,388 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $147,846,000 after buying an additional 45,472 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Block by 770.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,738,708 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $116,719,000 after buying an additional 1,538,849 shares during the period. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP bought a new stake in Block during the third quarter valued at $114,121,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Block by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,651,886 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $110,891,000 after buying an additional 8,200 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.