Mizuho Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its target price hoisted by investment analysts at Mizuho from $71.00 to $88.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the technology company’s stock. Mizuho’s target price indicates a potential upside of 16.13% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on shares of Block from $75.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Block from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Compass Point restated a “sell” rating and set a $65.00 target price (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Block in a report on Friday, August 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Block from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Block from $65.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.82.

Block Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of XYZ opened at $75.78 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $46.61 billion, a PE ratio of 16.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 2.71. The company’s fifty day moving average is $70.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.35. Block has a fifty-two week low of $44.27 and a fifty-two week high of $99.26. The company has a quick ratio of 2.27, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.32 billion. Block had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 7.85%. The business’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast 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 11,556 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.42, for a total value of $651,989.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 284,739 shares in the company, valued at $16,064,974.38. The trade was a 3.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Dhananjay Prasanna sold 11,318 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.41, for a total value of $695,038.38. Following the transaction, the insider owned 318,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,574,498.91. This represents a 3.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,438 shares of company stock valued at $6,217,707 over the last 90 days. 10.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. SouthState Corp bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.