Block (NYSE:XYZ) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Citigroup

Key Points

• Block (NYSE:XYZ) has been upgraded to a "strong-buy" rating by Citigroup, reflecting positive analyst sentiment towards the company.
• Several firms, including Oppenheimer and JPMorgan Chase, have raised their price targets for Block, with a consensus price target now at $82.30.
• The company reported a better-than-expected EPS of $0.62 for the last quarter, surpassing the consensus estimate of $0.21, despite a revenue decline of 1.6% year-over-year.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Citigroup to a "strong-buy" rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

XYZ has been the subject of several other research reports. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Block from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Block from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $97.00 price target (up previously from $63.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Block from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $82.30.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:XYZ opened at $78.59 on Thursday. Block has a fifty-two week low of $44.27 and a fifty-two week high of $99.26. The firm has a market cap of $47.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 2.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.96. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.04.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.41. Block had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 7.85%. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.32 billion. The company's revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,966 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.20, for a total transaction of $729,511.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 298,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,845,149.20. The trade was a 3.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,609 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.20, for a total value of $264,178.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 127,212 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,311,918.40. The trade was a 2.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 123,041 shares of company stock worth $9,355,075 in the last quarter. 10.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,730,489,000. Sands Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $702,446,000. Geode Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $634,721,000. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $627,233,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $535,305,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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