Block's (XYZ) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Canaccord Genuity Group

Key Points

• Analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating for Block's stock, setting a price target of $80.00, indicating a potential upside of 3.55% from current levels.
• Block reported quarterly earnings of $0.62 per share, significantly exceeding expectations, although its revenue was down 1.6% year-over-year.
• Insiders have sold a total of 114,538 shares worth over $8.5 million in the last three months, indicating a reduction in their ownership stakes in the company.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $80.00 price objective on the technology company's stock. Canaccord Genuity Group's price target points to a potential upside of 3.55% from the company's current price.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on XYZ. Truist Financial upped their price target on Block from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Mizuho upped their price target on Block from $71.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. BNP Paribas downgraded Block from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $86.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on Block from $57.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Block from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Twenty-four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $80.64.

Block Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of Block stock opened at $77.26 on Tuesday. The stock's 50-day moving average is $76.13 and its 200 day moving average is $65.10. Block has a one year low of $44.27 and a one year high of $99.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The firm has a market cap of $47.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 2.68.

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

Insider Transactions at Block

In other Block news, insider Dhananjay Prasanna sold 5,659 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.72, for a total transaction of $417,181.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 289,492 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,341,350.24. This represents a 1.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 9,760 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.24, for a total value of $744,102.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 574,062 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $43,766,486.88. This trade represents a 1.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 114,538 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,504 in the last three months. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Block during the second quarter valued at $602,000. Private Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter worth $380,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter worth $46,000. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter worth $565,000. Finally, Cidel Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter worth $311,000. 70.44% of the stock is 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.