Stephens Reaffirms Overweight Rating for Block (NYSE:XYZ)

Block (NYSE:XYZ)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Stephens in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $75.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock. Stephens’ price target indicates a potential upside of 61.05% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Block from $101.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Block from $94.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Block from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley upgraded Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $65.00 to $67.00 in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Block from $98.00 to $97.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.22.

Block Stock Down 20.4 %

XYZ opened at $46.57 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $56.86. Block has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $99.26. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market capitalization of $28.85 billion, a PE ratio of 10.24, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.83.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,345 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total value of $446,180.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 235,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,585,253.28. The trade was a 2.62 % 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 Owen Britton Jennings sold 1,263 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 181,904 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,221,185.76. This represents a 0.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 19,324 shares of company stock worth $1,297,662. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Block

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Block by 67.7% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 394 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in Block by 48.2% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 418 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its holdings in Block by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 982 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Block by 92.3% in the fourth quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,135 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 4th quarter worth approximately $203,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.