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 published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the technology company's stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on XYZ. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Block from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Block from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Block from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James Financial set a $79.00 price target on shares of Block and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Compass Point began coverage on shares of Block in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $80.00 price objective on the stock. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $74.38.

Block Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE:XYZ traded up $1.01 on Tuesday, hitting $68.85. The company had a trading volume of 3,236,488 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,962,814. The company has a quick ratio of 2.27, a current ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Block has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $99.26. The company's 50 day moving average price is $61.00. The stock has a market cap of $42.34 billion, a PE ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 2.74.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block 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 directly owned 133,940 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,366,700. The trade was a 5.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Dhananjay Prasanna sold 11,318 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.41, for a total transaction of $695,038.38. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 318,751 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,574,498.91. The trade was a 3.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 73,687 shares of company stock valued at $4,377,506 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 10.49% 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.