The Goldman Sachs Group Has Lowered Expectations for Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock Price

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its target price reduced by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $94.00 to $74.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 37.06% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Block from $101.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Block from $112.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on Block from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.46.

Block Price Performance

NYSE XYZ opened at $53.99 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07. Block has a 1-year low of $52.25 and a 1-year high of $99.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.87, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $70.29.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.11). Block had a return on equity of 5.80% and a net margin of 11.92%. The business had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.23 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.48, for a total transaction of $27,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 81,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,467,305.52. The trade was a 0.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 3,253 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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 directly owns 548,597 shares in the company, valued at $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 16,085 shares of company stock worth $1,115,663. 10.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Graypoint LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,445,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Block by 391.0% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 292,571 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $24,866,000 after acquiring an additional 232,989 shares in the last quarter. Private Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $15,727,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Block by 1.6% during 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 during the period. Finally, Perpetual Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Block during the fourth quarter worth $10,779,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

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.