Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Lowers Block (NYSE:XYZ) Price Target to $87.00

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its price objective cut by research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $100.00 to $87.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the technology company’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price points to a potential upside of 27.30% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on XYZ. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Block from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $94.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Block from $87.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Macquarie upped their price target on shares of Block from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Block from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.23.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:XYZ opened at $68.34 on Friday. 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 12-month low of $55.00 and a 12-month high of $99.26. The firm has a market cap of $42.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.02, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.52.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.23 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,865 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $272,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 85,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,097,325. The trade was a 3.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 2,836 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.38, for a total transaction of $253,481.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 195,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,469,231.62. The trade was a 1.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,247 shares of company stock valued at $832,865. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Block by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,651,886 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $110,891,000 after purchasing an additional 8,200 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its holdings in shares of Block by 13.5% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,083,113 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $72,709,000 after buying an additional 128,832 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,315,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Block by 1.5% during the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,233,102 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $686,948,000 after buying an additional 147,873 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd bought a new position in shares of Block during the fourth quarter valued at about $10,779,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.