Raymond James Lowers Block (NYSE:XYZ) Price Target to $103.00

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its price objective reduced by equities researchers at Raymond James from $115.00 to $103.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the technology company’s stock. Raymond James’ target price indicates a potential upside of 50.72% from the company’s current price.

XYZ has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Block from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Block in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Block from $87.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Block has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.23.

Block Stock Down 17.7 %

NYSE:XYZ opened at $68.34 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.36 billion, a PE ratio of 15.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.52. Block has a 1-year low of $55.00 and a 1-year high of $99.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,502 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.52, for a total transaction of $129,953.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 242,199 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,955,057.48. The trade was a 0.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 2,836 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.38, for a total transaction of $253,481.68. Following the sale, the insider now owns 195,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,469,231.62. The trade was a 1.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,247 shares of company stock valued at $832,865 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position 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. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 133,002 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Block by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,202,388 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $147,846,000 after acquiring an additional 45,472 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Block by 770.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,738,708 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $116,719,000 after purchasing an additional 1,538,849 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Southpoint Capital Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Block during the 3rd quarter valued at about $114,121,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

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.