Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) Receives $79.22 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-nine analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twenty have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $75.54.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Block in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered Block from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $85.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on shares of Block from $90.00 to $60.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $58.00 price target (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Friday. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on Block from $94.00 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th.

Block Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of XYZ traded up $0.74 on Friday, reaching $47.38. The stock had a trading volume of 17,894,622 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,216,064. Block has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $99.26. The stock has a market cap of $29.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.41, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.83. The company's 50-day moving average is $56.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 2.07.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.11). Block had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 5.80%. The firm had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.23 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,345 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total value of $446,180.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 235,854 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,585,253.28. This trade represents a 2.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,467 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $103,159.44. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 82,499 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,801,329.68. This represents a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 19,324 shares of company stock valued at $1,297,662. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Block

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Block by 183.8% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 9,154 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $778,000 after buying an additional 5,929 shares during the period. Guerra Pan Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 4th quarter worth approximately $211,000. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,775,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp boosted its stake in Block by 18,150.0% during the fourth quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 7,300 shares of the technology company's stock worth $620,000 after buying an additional 7,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nepsis Inc. acquired a new stake in Block during the fourth quarter worth $9,769,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Block

Square, Inc provides payment and point-of-sale solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's commerce ecosystem includes point-of-sale software and hardware that enables sellers to turn mobile and computing devices into payment and point-of-sale solutions. It offers hardware products, including Magstripe reader, which enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Contactless and chip reader that accepts EMV® chip cards and Near Field Communication payments; Chip card reader, which accepts EMV® chip cards and enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Square Stand, which enables an iPad to be used as a payment terminal or full point of sale solution; and Square Register that combines its hardware, point-of-sale software, and payments technology, as well as managed payments solutions.