Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock Lifted to Outperform by BMO Capital Markets

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was upgraded by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $101.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price target would suggest a potential upside of 29.15% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Friday, September 25th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Block in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $82.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Block from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.06.

Block Trading Up 0.1%

XYZ opened at $78.21 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.39. Block has a fifty-two week low of $48.21 and a fifty-two week high of $86.92. The company has a market cap of $46.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 139.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 2.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.21 and a quick ratio of 2.21.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.54. Block had a net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 8.10%. The firm had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.62 earnings per share. Block’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Block has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.020-4.020 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.020-1.020 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Block will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, Director Anthony Eisen sold 6,000 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.58, for a total transaction of $471,480.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,254,672 shares in the company, valued at $98,592,125.76. The trade was a 0.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 308,565 shares of company stock worth $24,872,046 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.37% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in Block during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $90,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 46.0% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,795 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $573,000 after buying an additional 2,456 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Block by 1.5% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 11,888 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $874,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of Block by 36.9% during the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 7,051 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $542,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Block by 6.8% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 47,973 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,527,000 after acquiring an additional 3,054 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Block Company Profile

Block, Inc is a financial technology company that provides payments, commerce, and financial services through an ecosystem of business and consumer products. Formerly known as Square, the company was co-founded by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey and changed its corporate name to Block in 2021.

Its Square ecosystem serves businesses with point-of-sale hardware, payment processing, invoicing, payroll, inventory management, customer engagement, online commerce, and other software tools. Block also offers lending and other financial services to eligible business customers through Square-related products.

For consumers, Block operates Cash App, a mobile financial services platform that supports services such as peer-to-peer payments, money transfers, a Cash App Card, direct deposit, investing, and bitcoin transactions, subject to product and geographic availability.