Block (NYSE:XYZ) Raised to Strong-Buy at Arete Research

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was upgraded by research analysts at Arete Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on XYZ. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Block from $96.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 7th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Block from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Bank of America raised their target price on Block from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.79.

Block Trading Up 3.8%

Shares of NYSE XYZ opened at $65.31 on Tuesday. Block has a 1-year low of $44.27 and a 1-year high of $82.50. The company has a 50-day moving average of $61.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.92. The company has a market cap of $39.69 billion, a PE ratio of 31.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 2.65. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.39. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. The business had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,173 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.09, for a total value of $76,350.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 98,412 shares in the company, valued at $6,405,637.08. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 822 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total transaction of $52,591.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 242,718 shares in the company, valued at $15,529,097.64. The trade was a 0.34% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 16,797 shares of company stock worth $940,298. Company insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SHP Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Block in the fourth quarter worth about $78,000. Reflection Asset Management purchased a new position in Block during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Walser Wealth Management Company A Ltd Liability Co bought a new stake in Block in the 4th quarter worth approximately $229,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Block by 40.2% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,299,033 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $344,914,000 after acquiring an additional 1,520,735 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Block by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,454 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $290,000 after acquiring an additional 869 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Company Profile

Block (NYSE:XYZ) is a financial technology company that builds products and services to facilitate electronic payments, commerce, and consumer finance. Its principal business lines include a seller-focused ecosystem that provides point-of-sale hardware and software, payment processing, invoicing, payroll and lending services, and a consumer-facing platform that offers peer-to-peer payments, banking-like features, and investing. Block’s portfolio also encompasses music streaming and buy-now-pay-later capabilities through businesses acquired to broaden its reach beyond core payments.

The company was founded as Square in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey and later rebranded to Block to reflect a diversified set of businesses across payments, consumer finance, and emerging technologies.