Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock Gets Price Target Boost from Raymond James Financial

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its target price raised by research analysts at Raymond James Financial from $97.00 to $100.00 in a report released on Wednesday. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the technology company’s stock. Raymond James Financial‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 16.29% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Wolfe Research upped their price target on Block from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Block from $93.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Block from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Block from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, September 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.24.

Block Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of XYZ traded up $1.95 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $85.99. 2,921,824 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,193,499. Block has a 12 month low of $48.21 and a 12 month high of $88.51. The company has a quick ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $77.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.39. The company has a market capitalization of $51.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 2.58.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 3rd. The technology company reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $6.72 billion during the quarter. Block had a net margin of 1.80% and a return on equity of 9.63%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Block will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, Director Anthony Eisen sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.44, for a total transaction of $446,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,212,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,271,303.68. This trade represents a 0.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 226,686 shares of company stock worth $17,861,807. Corporate insiders own 11.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in XYZ. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at $621,703,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Block by 528.2% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,309,296 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $199,153,000 after buying an additional 2,782,523 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in Block by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,194,419 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $234,886,000 after buying an additional 494,083 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Block by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,147,988 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $189,353,000 after buying an additional 39,112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hyperion Asset Management Ltd lifted its stake in Block by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hyperion Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,682,854 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $203,897,000 after acquiring an additional 172,848 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Key Block News

Here are the key news stories impacting Block this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Block’s third-quarter results beat expectations: earnings per share were $1.13 versus the $0.68 consensus, while revenue rose 9.9% year over year. Cash App lending and Square growth helped lift gross profit 22% to $3.24 billion, and the company raised its 2026 outlook. Shares recently reached a 52-week high following the results. Article: Block earnings lift outlook Article: Block Q3 earnings beat estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Several firms raised price targets, reinforcing optimism: Wells Fargo lifted its target to $110, TD Cowen to $109, Barclays and Argus to $105, and RBC to $103. Needham reiterated its Buy rating, while TD Cowen and Susquehanna also expressed expectations for further gains. Wells Fargo forecast Argus target increase Barclays target increase
• Positive Sentiment: Traders also purchased a large volume of Block call options, suggesting bullish positioning, though options activity can be speculative. Call options activity
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its target to $82 but maintained an Equal Weight rating; Scotiabank also kept a Sector Perform rating. Their views are more cautious than the broader cluster of Buy and Outperform calls.
• Negative Sentiment: Block is making its second round of job cuts this year, affecting employees in Cash App. The cuts may reduce costs, but the timing shortly after strong earnings could raise questions about staffing and business needs. Article: Block job cuts

About Block

Block, Inc is a financial technology company that provides payments, commerce, and financial services through an ecosystem of business and consumer products. Formerly known as Square, the company was co-founded by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey and changed its corporate name to Block in 2021.

Its Square ecosystem serves businesses with point-of-sale hardware, payment processing, invoicing, payroll, inventory management, customer engagement, online commerce, and other software tools. Block also offers lending and other financial services to eligible business customers through Square-related products.

For consumers, Block operates Cash App, a mobile financial services platform that supports services such as peer-to-peer payments, money transfers, a Cash App Card, direct deposit, investing, and bitcoin transactions, subject to product and geographic availability.