Block (NYSE:XYZ) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $93.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $72.00. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 70.52% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Block from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Friday, November 7th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a report on Monday, December 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.47.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of Block stock opened at $54.54 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a market cap of $33.14 billion, a PE ratio of 11.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 2.67. The company has a 50 day moving average of $61.30 and a 200-day moving average of $68.28. Block has a 1-year low of $44.27 and a 1-year high of $82.50.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.39. Block had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 5.54%. The business had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. Block’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 822 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total value of $52,591.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 242,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,529,097.64. This represents a 0.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,173 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.09, for a total value of $76,350.57. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 98,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,405,637.08. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 16,797 shares of company stock valued at $940,298 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in XYZ. Walser Wealth Management Company A Ltd Liability Co bought a new position in Block during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Block by 40.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,299,033 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $344,914,000 after purchasing an additional 1,520,735 shares in the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Block by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,454 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $290,000 after buying an additional 869 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Block by 79.4% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 45,462 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,959,000 after purchasing an additional 20,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Block by 33.1% during the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 96,709 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,295,000 after buying an additional 24,032 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Block this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Shares jumped after Block announced it will cut roughly 4,000 jobs (about half its staff) as it leans into AI and smaller teams; investors are pricing in faster efficiency and lower ongoing expenses. Jack Dorsey’s Block laying off more than 4,000 employees, about half of its workforce
• Positive Sentiment: Block reported Q4 EPS of $0.65, beating consensus of $0.26 and signaling better-than-expected near-term profitability despite modest revenue growth; that helped support the rally. Block (XYZ) Meets Q4 Earnings Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management highlighted AI productivity gains (CFO said engineer output up ~40%), reinforcing the narrative that layoffs will be accompanied by material efficiency improvements. CEO Jack Dorsey issued a dire warning about AI’s impact as he cuts Block by almost half
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Jack Dorsey framed the move as correcting COVID-era overhiring and flattening org structure for the AI era — context that explains management rationale but leaves execution risks unresolved. Jack Dorsey’s mea culpa on Block layoffs: ‘We overhired’
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary and futures trading were mixed, meaning broader risk sentiment (inflation prints, macro) could influence how durable the stock move is. Stock Market Today: Dow Jones, S&P 500 Future Drop Ahead Of January Wholesale Inflation Print—Netflix, Block, Rocket Lab In Focus
• Negative Sentiment: Block expects roughly $450M–$500M of restructuring and severance charges tied to the layoffs, which will weigh on near-term free cash flow and reported results. Jack Dorsey’s Block to Lay Off 4,000 Employees in AI Remake
• Negative Sentiment: Shareholder-watchdog activity: Halper Sadeh is probing potential fiduciary breaches, introducing legal/PR risk that could distract management or produce claims. Halper Sadeh LLC Encourages Block, Inc. Shareholders To Contact The Firm To Discuss Their Rights

Block Company Profile

Block (NYSE:XYZ) is a financial technology company that builds products and services to facilitate electronic payments, commerce, and consumer finance. Its principal business lines include a seller-focused ecosystem that provides point-of-sale hardware and software, payment processing, invoicing, payroll and lending services, and a consumer-facing platform that offers peer-to-peer payments, banking-like features, and investing. Block’s portfolio also encompasses music streaming and buy-now-pay-later capabilities through businesses acquired to broaden its reach beyond core payments.

The company was founded as Square in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey and later rebranded to Block to reflect a diversified set of businesses across payments, consumer finance, and emerging technologies.