Block (NYSE:XYZ) Earns Overweight Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "overweight" rating restated by investment analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $95.00 price target on the technology company's stock. Cantor Fitzgerald's price objective indicates a potential upside of 23.76% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other research firms have also commented on XYZ. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on shares of Block from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Block from $86.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Barclays assumed coverage on Block in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $100.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Block from $92.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $95.42.

Block Trading Up 2.8%

NYSE:XYZ opened at $76.76 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market cap of $46.12 billion, a PE ratio of 137.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 2.52. Block has a 52 week low of $48.21 and a 52 week high of $86.92. The business's 50 day moving average is $80.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.24.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.54. Block had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 1.43%.The company had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.62 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter 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, analysts predict that Block will post 2.74 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,511 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.43, for a total value of $783,991.73. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 423,262 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,889,486.66. The trade was a 2.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Anthony Eisen sold 41,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.85, for a total transaction of $3,519,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,566,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $134,498,791.20. The trade was a 2.55% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 369,913 shares of company stock valued at $29,935,706 in the last three months. Company insiders own 11.37% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in XYZ. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter worth $621,703,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Block in the 4th quarter valued at about $484,387,000. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Block by 41.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 16,023,441 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,042,966,000 after acquiring an additional 4,727,217 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Block by 528.2% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,309,296 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $199,153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,782,523 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its position in shares of Block by 2,040.0% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,299,565 shares of the technology company's stock worth $149,679,000 after buying an additional 2,192,110 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Block

Block, Inc is a global technology company that develops financial services and commerce tools for businesses and consumers. Founded in 2009 as Square, the company changed its corporate name to Block in 2021 to reflect the expansion of its operations beyond seller-focused payment solutions.

Through its Square ecosystem, Block provides payment processing, point-of-sale hardware and software, business banking, invoicing, payroll, inventory management and other tools for merchants. Its consumer-focused Cash App offers services that may include peer-to-peer payments, money transfers, investing, debit-card access and bitcoin-related functionality, subject to availability and applicable regulations.

Block also owns Afterpay, a buy now, pay later platform, and has operated additional businesses involving music streaming and bitcoin infrastructure.