Block (NYSE:XYZ) Earns "Buy" Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC has increased its price target for Block (NYSE:XYZ) from $80.00 to $100.00, suggesting a potential upside of 30.19% from its previous close.
• Block's stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a target price averaging $76.06, bolstered by multiple analysts giving buy ratings.
• In its latest earnings report, Block reported earnings per share of $0.62, significantly beating the consensus estimate of $0.21, despite a 1.6% decrease in revenue compared to last year.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $100.00 price objective on the technology company's stock, up from their prior price objective of $80.00. Needham & Company LLC's price target suggests a potential upside of 36.28% from the company's previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on XYZ. Morgan Stanley downgraded Block from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $73.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. KGI Securities raised Block to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Block from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, Macquarie cut shares of Block from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $78.33.

Block Trading Down 4.5%

Block stock opened at $73.38 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $69.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.52. The company has a quick ratio of 2.27, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Block has a 12 month low of $44.27 and a 12 month high of $99.26. The stock has a market cap of $45.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 2.71.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.41. Block had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 5.80%. The company had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.32 billion. Block's revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 6,494 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.39, for a total value of $366,196.66. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 591,629 shares in the company, valued at $33,361,959.31. This trade represents a 1.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 value of $695,038.38. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 318,751 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,574,498.91. This trade represents a 3.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 95,038 shares of company stock worth $6,184,911 over the last 90 days. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. SouthState Corp acquired a new position in Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter worth $30,000. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.