Block’s (XYZ) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at BTIG Research

BTIG Research reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $90.00 target price on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on XYZ. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price target (up previously from $79.00) on shares of Block in a report on Friday, August 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Block from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.58.

Block Trading Down 7.7%

Block stock traded down $5.44 during trading on Friday, reaching $65.49. The company had a trading volume of 21,392,953 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,641,801. Block has a 12-month low of $44.27 and a 12-month high of $99.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.96. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $75.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.20, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 2.73.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.29. Block had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 8.49%. The company had revenue of $6.11 billion during the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,276 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.69, for a total transaction of $97,856.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 282,924 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,697,441.56. The trade was a 0.45% 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 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total value of $78,508.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 253,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,988,290.12. This represents a 0.41% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 119,041 shares of company stock valued at $9,052,531. Company insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Block

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. City Holding Co. bought a new stake in shares of Block in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, SouthState Corp acquired a new stake in Block during the second quarter worth $29,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.