Block (NYSE:XYZ) Earns Outperform Rating from Royal Bank Of Canada

Block (NYSE:XYZ)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by equities researchers at Royal Bank Of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $90.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 45.44% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Zacks Research downgraded Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price target (up previously from $79.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Block in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.42.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of XYZ stock opened at $61.88 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.18. The firm has a market cap of $37.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 2.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $73.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.26. Block has a one year low of $44.27 and a one year high of $99.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.29. Block had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 5.54%. The firm had revenue of $6.11 billion during the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total value of $78,508.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 253,956 shares in the company, valued at $18,988,290.12. This represents a 0.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,581 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $493,575.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 285,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,416,325. This represents a 2.25% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 61,360 shares of company stock valued at $4,799,162. 10.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. acquired a new position in Block during the second quarter worth approximately $3,730,489,000. Sands Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter worth approximately $702,446,000. Geode Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $634,721,000. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $627,233,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $535,305,000. 70.44% of the stock is 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.