Royal Bank Of Canada Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Block (NYSE:XYZ)

Block (NYSE:XYZ)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by equities research analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $90.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 49.14% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. HSBC upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $70.00 to $77.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Compass Point raised shares of Block from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Block from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.79.

Block Price Performance

XYZ stock traded up $0.50 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $60.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,225,753 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,882,909. Block has a 12 month low of $44.27 and a 12 month high of $82.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 2.64. The company has a 50 day moving average of $60.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.08.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.39. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. The firm had revenue of $6.25 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 10,349 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $517,450.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 503,784 shares in the company, valued at $25,189,200. This represents a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total value of $225,422.55. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 231,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,664,323.42. The trade was a 1.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 20,352 shares of company stock worth $1,165,720 in the last 90 days. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Block during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. City Holding Co. purchased a new position in shares of Block during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC bought a new position in Block during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in Block during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

About Block

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.