Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock Rating Upgraded by KeyCorp

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was upgraded by KeyCorp to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Macquarie raised their price objective on Block from $50.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Block from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Block from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Block from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.30.

Block Stock Down 2.4%

XYZ opened at $75.85 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.96. Block has a fifty-two week low of $44.27 and a fifty-two week high of $99.26. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $76.32 and its 200 day moving average is $67.85. The stock has a market cap of $46.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 2.71.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.32 billion. Block had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 7.85%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $2,811,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 535,896 shares in the company, valued at $42,871,680. This represents a 6.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,609 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.20, for a total transaction of $264,178.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 127,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,311,918.40. The trade was a 2.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 123,041 shares of company stock worth $9,355,075 in the last three months. 10.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. City Holding Co. acquired a new stake in Block during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC purchased a new position in Block during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter worth about $26,000. SouthState Corp purchased a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter worth about $30,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.