Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirty-eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $82.1429.

Several analysts recently commented on XYZ shares. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Block from $55.00 to $51.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley raised Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Block from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. BNP Paribas Exane raised Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, February 27th.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total transaction of $225,422.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 231,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,664,323.42. This represents a 1.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 10,349 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $517,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 503,784 shares in the company, valued at $25,189,200. This represents a 2.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 20,352 shares of company stock valued at $1,165,720 in the last quarter. 10.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. City Holding Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Block in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Block by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 443 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of NYSE XYZ opened at $61.16 on Tuesday. Block has a 52-week low of $44.27 and a 52-week high of $82.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.20. The stock has a market cap of $37.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 2.65. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $59.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.44.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $6.25 billion for the quarter. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Block Company Profile

Block (NYSE:XYZ) is a financial technology company that builds products and services to facilitate electronic payments, commerce, and consumer finance. Its principal business lines include a seller-focused ecosystem that provides point-of-sale hardware and software, payment processing, invoicing, payroll and lending services, and a consumer-facing platform that offers peer-to-peer payments, banking-like features, and investing. Block’s portfolio also encompasses music streaming and buy-now-pay-later capabilities through businesses acquired to broaden its reach beyond core payments.

The company was founded as Square in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey and later rebranded to Block to reflect a diversified set of businesses across payments, consumer finance, and emerging technologies.