Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on Block, with 29 buy, four strong-buy and nine hold ratings among 42 firms. The average 12-month price target is $95.42, above the stock’s reported $79.41 opening price.
• Block reported quarterly EPS of $1.02, exceeding the $0.48 analyst consensus, while revenue reached $6.62 billion, up 9.3% year over year. Analysts expect full-year EPS of $2.74.
• Institutional investors own 70.44% of Block, while insiders own 11.37%; insiders sold approximately $29.4 million of stock over the past 90 days, including transactions by a director and the CFO under pre-arranged trading plans.

Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the forty-two research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-nine have assigned a buy recommendation and four have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $95.4242.

XYZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Benchmark upgraded Block to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Block from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on Block from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th.

Block Stock Up 0.2%

XYZ opened at $79.41 on Tuesday. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $80.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.41. Block has a 52 week low of $48.21 and a 52 week high of $86.92. The company has a quick ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $47.71 billion, a PE ratio of 141.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 2.52.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.54. The firm had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter. Block had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 1.43%.Block's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.62 earnings per share. Block has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.020-4.020 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.020-1.020 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Block will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, Director Anthony Eisen sold 41,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.85, for a total value of $3,519,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,566,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $134,498,791.20. The trade was a 2.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,511 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.43, for a total value of $783,991.73. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 423,262 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $34,889,486.66. This trade represents a 2.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 363,913 shares of company stock valued at $29,390,366 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.37% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raiffeisen Bank International AG grew its position in Block by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 44,901 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,503,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Block by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 707 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Block by 3.3% during the second quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,081 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $462,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. increased its position in shares of Block by 2.6% during the first quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 8,035 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $484,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Block by 57.6% in the 4th quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 610 shares of the technology company's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company's stock.

Block Company Profile

Block, Inc is a global technology company that develops financial services and commerce tools for businesses and consumers. Founded in 2009 as Square, the company changed its corporate name to Block in 2021 to reflect the expansion of its operations beyond seller-focused payment solutions.

Through its Square ecosystem, Block provides payment processing, point-of-sale hardware and software, business banking, invoicing, payroll, inventory management and other tools for merchants. Its consumer-focused Cash App offers services that may include peer-to-peer payments, money transfers, investing, debit-card access and bitcoin-related functionality, subject to availability and applicable regulations.

Block also owns Afterpay, a buy now, pay later platform, and has operated additional businesses involving music streaming and bitcoin infrastructure.

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