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

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

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on XYZ. Compass Point began coverage on Block in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James Financial set a $79.00 target price on Block and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Block from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Block from $80.00 to $70.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Block from $65.00 to $57.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $74.69.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:XYZ traded up $1.12 on Tuesday, reaching $68.96. 5,337,950 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,861,355. Block has a fifty-two week low of $44.27 and a fifty-two week high of $99.26. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.21. The stock has a market cap of $42.41 billion, a PE ratio of 16.78, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 2.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 2.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Dhananjay Prasanna sold 11,318 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.41, for a total value of $695,038.38. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 318,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,574,498.91. The trade was a 3.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 10,002 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.39, for a total value of $564,012.78. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 326,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,389,117.34. This trade represents a 2.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 73,687 shares of company stock valued at $4,377,506 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 10.85% of the company's stock.

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.