Jefferies Financial Group Has Lowered Expectations for Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock Price

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its price target reduced by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $95.00 to $90.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 18.76% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on XYZ. Wolfe Research set a $75.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Monday, May 19th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Block from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective (down from $80.00) on shares of Block in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Compass Point reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective (down from $80.00) on shares of Block in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Block from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $50.00 in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.82.

Block Price Performance

XYZ opened at $75.78 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $70.69 and a 200-day moving average of $65.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.23, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 2.71. Block has a 12-month low of $44.27 and a 12-month 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.32 billion. Block had a return on equity of 7.85% and a net margin of 12.32%. The company’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 16,358 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.60, for a total value of $1,285,738.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 308,397 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,240,004.20. The trade was a 5.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $40,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 108,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,658,880. The trade was a 0.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 95,438 shares of company stock worth $6,217,707. 10.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nemes Rush Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. SouthState Corp bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Block Company Profile

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.