Block (NYSE:XYZ) Price Target Lowered to $97.00 at Barclays

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its price objective decreased by Barclays from $112.00 to $97.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Block from $100.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Block from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Block from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.31.

Block Trading Down 3.5 %

XYZ opened at $65.93 on Monday. Block has a 12-month low of $55.00 and a 12-month high of $99.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.49, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.53. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released 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). The business had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.23 billion. Block had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 5.80%. Research analysts forecast that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In related news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 2,836 shares of Block stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 195,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,469,231.62. The trade was a 1.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,865 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $272,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 85,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,097,325. The trade was a 3.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,247 shares of company stock valued at $832,865. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake in Block by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,233,102 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $686,948,000 after acquiring an additional 147,873 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted 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 worth $581,923,000 after purchasing an additional 133,002 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Block by 2.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,202,388 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $147,846,000 after purchasing an additional 45,472 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Block by 770.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,738,708 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $116,719,000 after purchasing an additional 1,538,849 shares during the period. Finally, Southpoint Capital Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Block during the 3rd quarter valued at $114,121,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently 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.