Citigroup Lowers Block (NYSE:XYZ) Price Target to $90.00

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its price objective lowered by research analysts at Citigroup from $108.00 to $90.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. Citigroup’s target price points to a potential upside of 57.40% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer raised 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 target price on shares of Block from $100.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. BNP Paribas lowered Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Block from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.00.

Block Trading Up 5.8 %

XYZ stock opened at $57.18 on Friday. Block has a 1 year low of $53.54 and a 1 year high of $99.26. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07. The firm has a market cap of $35.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.57, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.78.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.23 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 2,836 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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. This represents a 1.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 3,253 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 548,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,310,081.97. This represents a 0.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,967 shares of company stock worth $1,649,113. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Block

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Block by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $709,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in Block by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 418 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Block by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 26,864 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,283,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its stake in Block by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 982 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in Block by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.