Block (NYSE:XYZ) Lowered to Hold Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Block from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Macquarie raised their price target on shares of Block from $50.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Block from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Compass Point restated a “sell” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective (down from $80.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.58.

Block Stock Down 0.0%

XYZ traded down $0.01 during trading on Monday, hitting $65.90. The stock had a trading volume of 194,884 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,976,001. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.11. The company has a market capitalization of $40.17 billion, a PE ratio of 13.28, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 2.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.18. Block has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $99.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.29. Block had a return on equity of 7.41% and a net margin of 12.99%.The firm had revenue of $6.11 billion during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.53 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, 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 transaction of $264,178.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 127,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,311,918.40. This represents a 2.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Dhananjay Prasanna sold 5,659 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.72, for a total value of $417,181.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 289,492 shares in the company, valued at $21,341,350.24. The trade was a 1.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 119,041 shares of company stock valued at $9,052,531 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 23.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,626,485 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,887,366,000 after buying an additional 12,709,824 shares during the period. Sands Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Block in the second quarter worth approximately $702,446,000. Geode Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at $634,721,000. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $627,233,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth $535,305,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Company Profile

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.