Block (NYSE:XYZ) Given Buy Rating at Canaccord Genuity Group

Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Canaccord Genuity Group currently has a $80.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock.

XYZ has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Block from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Block from $71.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Block from $60.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Block from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Twenty-four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.64.

Block Price Performance

Shares of Block stock opened at $76.44 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $46.60 billion, a PE ratio of 16.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 2.68. Block has a 12-month low of $44.27 and a 12-month high of $99.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.18.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 16,358 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.60, for a total transaction of $1,285,738.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 308,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,240,004.20. This trade represents a 5.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 9,760 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.24, for a total transaction of $744,102.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 574,062 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,766,486.88. This trade represents a 1.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 114,538 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,504. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Block in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. SouthState Corp bought a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.