Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock Price

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Free Report) had its target price hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $65.00 to $73.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the technology company's stock.

XYZ has been the topic of several other reports. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $58.00 price target (down from $80.00) on shares of Block in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James Financial set a $79.00 target price on shares of Block and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Block from $94.00 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Block from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Block to an "underweight" rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $74.38.

Block Price Performance

Block stock traded down $1.59 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $67.82. The company had a trading volume of 6,867,079 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,016,260. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.50, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 2.74. The company has a current ratio of 2.27, a quick ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Block has a one year low of $44.27 and a one year high of $99.26. The business's 50-day moving average is $60.83.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 7,500 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total transaction of $412,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 133,940 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,366,700. This trade represents a 5.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 10,002 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.39, for a total transaction of $564,012.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 326,106 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,389,117.34. The trade was a 2.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 73,687 shares of company stock valued at $4,377,506. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Block Company Profile

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.