Block (NYSE:XYZ) Rating Lowered to Equal Weight at Wells Fargo & Company

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $50.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $95.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 7.37% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Raymond James dropped their price target on Block from $115.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Macquarie restated an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $87.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Block from $97.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.22.

Block Trading Down 20.4 %

Block stock opened at $46.57 on Friday. Block has a 1-year low of $44.27 and a 1-year high of $99.26. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market cap of $28.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.24, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.83. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $56.86.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.23 billion. Block had a return on equity of 5.80% and a net margin of 11.92%. Research analysts forecast that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 4,520 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $317,846.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 551,850 shares in the company, valued at $38,806,092. The trade was a 0.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 1,263 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.19, for a total transaction of $70,967.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 181,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,221,185.76. The trade was a 0.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,324 shares of company stock valued at $1,297,662 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in XYZ. Graypoint LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,445,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Block by 391.0% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 292,571 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $24,866,000 after purchasing an additional 232,989 shares in the last quarter. Private Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Block during the fourth quarter valued at $15,727,000. Perpetual Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Block during the 4th quarter valued at $10,779,000. Finally, Nepsis Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the 4th quarter worth about $9,769,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

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.