Block (NYSE:XYZ) Earns “Hold (C+)” Rating from Weiss Ratings

Block (NYSE:XYZ)‘s stock had its “hold (c+)” rating reiterated by Weiss Ratings in a research note issued on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

XYZ has been the subject of several other reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Block from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Block from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Block from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 target price (up from $79.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Twenty-four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.64.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of XYZ stock opened at $80.77 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $76.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.63. Block has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $99.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.24 billion, a PE ratio of 17.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 2.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 7.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,276 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.69, for a total transaction of $97,856.44. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 282,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,697,441.56. This represents a 0.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 520 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total transaction of $38,880.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 103,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,705,646.66. The trade was a 0.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 112,397 shares of company stock valued at $8,433,632 over the last quarter. 10.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nemes Rush Group LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Block during the second quarter valued at $26,000. SouthState Corp bought a new position in Block during the second quarter valued at $29,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Block during the second quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new position in Block during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

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.