Royal Bank of Canada Lowers Block (NYSE:XYZ) Price Target to $63.00

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its price target lowered by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $86.00 to $63.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the technology company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 35.28% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on XYZ. StockNews.com started coverage on Block in a report on Saturday, February 15th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Block from $65.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Block from $108.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.22.

Block Trading Down 20.4 %

Shares of XYZ stock opened at $46.57 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $28.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.83. 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 50-day moving average price of $56.86. 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, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.23 billion. Block had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 5.80%. As a group, research analysts predict that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

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