Block (NYSE:XYZ) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley downgraded Block to “equal weight” from “overweight” and cut its price target to $80 from $90, implying roughly 7.3% upside from the stock’s $74.53 price.
• Despite the downgrade, analyst sentiment remains positive overall: Block has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and a consensus price target of $95.61, supported by 3 Strong Buy and 29 Buy ratings.
• Block reported quarterly EPS of $1.02, surpassing the $0.48 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 9.3% year over year to $6.62 billion. Insiders have sold about $24.9 million of shares over the past 90 days.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $80.00 price target on the technology company's stock, down from their prior price target of $90.00. Morgan Stanley's price objective points to a potential upside of 7.34% from the company's current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group set a $96.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, October 15th. William Blair lowered Block to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Argus increased their price objective on shares of Block from $86.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of Block from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. They issued a "sector perform" rating and a $82.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Block currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $95.61.

Block Stock Performance

Block stock traded down $1.93 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $74.53. The stock had a trading volume of 5,204,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,551,443. 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 $44.78 billion, a PE ratio of 26.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 2.55. The company has a 50-day moving average of $78.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.54. The firm had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter. Block had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 1.43%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.62 earnings per share. 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Block will post 2.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Anthony Eisen sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.07, for a total transaction of $474,420.00. Following the sale, the director owned 1,242,672 shares of the company's stock, valued at $98,258,075.04. This trade represents a 0.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 308,565 shares of company stock worth $24,873,186. Company insiders own 11.37% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in XYZ. NovaPoint Capital LLC raised its stake in Block by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. NovaPoint Capital LLC now owns 3,630 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $267,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG boosted its holdings in Block by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 44,901 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,503,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its position in 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 buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Block by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,081 shares of the technology company's stock worth $462,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carson Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Block by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 8,035 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $484,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is 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.