Block (NYSE:XYZ) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley downgraded Block's stock rating from "overweight" to "equal weight," with a target price set at $73.00, indicating a potential downside of 4.04% from the recent closing price.
• Block’s average price target among analysts is $73.53, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy," supported by nine hold ratings and twenty-three buy ratings.
• Recent insider trading activity included the sale of over 11,000 shares by insider Dhananjay Prasanna, with corporate insiders owning 10.49% of the stock.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $73.00 price target on the technology company's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective indicates a potential downside of 4.96% from the stock's current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Raymond James Financial set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Block and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Block from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Block from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Benchmark cut shares of Block from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Block to an "underweight" rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Block has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $73.73.

Block Stock Performance

XYZ traded up $0.68 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $76.81. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,555,079 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,079,576. 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 one year low of $44.27 and a one year high of $99.26. The firm has a market cap of $47.24 billion, a PE ratio of 18.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 2.71. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $68.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.38.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.41. Block had a net margin of 10.84% and a return on equity of 5.71%. Block's quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 6,494 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.39, for a total value of $366,196.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 591,629 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,361,959.31. This trade represents a 1.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 16,358 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.60, for a total transaction of $1,285,738.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 308,397 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,240,004.20. This trade represents a 5.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 102,538 shares of company stock worth $6,597,411. Insiders own 10.85% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $602,000. Private Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $380,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $46,000. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $565,000. Finally, Cidel Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $311,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company's stock.

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.