Raymond James Financial Upgrades Block (NYSE:XYZ) to “Moderate Buy”

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was upgraded by research analysts at Raymond James Financial to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, December 29th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Block from $96.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.97.

Block Trading Up 17.0%

NYSE XYZ opened at $63.77 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.75 billion, a PE ratio of 30.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 2.67. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $61.27 and its 200 day moving average is $68.22. Block has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $82.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter. Block had a return on equity of 6.67% and a net margin of 5.40%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,173 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.09, for a total value of $76,350.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 98,412 shares in the company, valued at $6,405,637.08. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 822 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total value of $52,591.56. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 242,718 shares in the company, valued at $15,529,097.64. This trade represents a 0.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 16,797 shares of company stock worth $940,298 in the last 90 days. 10.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new position in Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,730,489,000. Sands Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $702,446,000. Geode Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $634,721,000. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $627,233,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth $535,305,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

More Block News

Here are the key news stories impacting Block this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management announced cuts of roughly 4,000 roles (nearly half the workforce) and said it will accelerate integrating AI to boost efficiency — a move investors interpreted as materially lowering future operating costs and improving margins. Reuters: Block shares soar as Dorsey leans on AI
• Positive Sentiment: Block reported Q4 results with EPS roughly in line with consensus and revenue up year-over-year (~$6.25B), and management raised 2026 outlook — the combination supported the rally. Zacks: Block Stock Soars
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple firms raised ratings/price targets (TD Cowen, Morgan Stanley, Needham, Oppenheimer, BTIG, Cantor Fitzgerald), signaling analyst confidence that the restructuring and AI investments boost long-term value. Benzinga roundup
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro headwinds and market volatility are present (weak futures / sector rotation), which could cap broader market upside even as Block-specific news drives the stock. Zacks: Oil Surges / Market Moves
• Negative Sentiment: The restructuring will incur substantial one-time costs (reported $450–$500M in severance and charges), which will weigh on near-term cash flow and reported results. WSJ: Layoff costs
• Negative Sentiment: Some analysts and commentators caution the boost from cuts and AI may not be durable; Seeking Alpha flagged a downgrade risk, and regulators/law firms (Halper Sadeh) are probing potential fiduciary issues — both represent execution and governance risks. Seeking Alpha: Downgrade concerns PR Newswire: Investor probe

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.