Block (NYSE:XYZ) Research Coverage Started at Bank of America

Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) in a report issued on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $88.00 target price on the technology company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on XYZ. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Block from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Block from $55.00 to $51.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.79.

Block Stock Down 1.2%

XYZ stock opened at $66.54 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $40.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 2.65. Block has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $82.50. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $61.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.80. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

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

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,101 shares of the firm’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 $70,441.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 271,864 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,393,858.72. This trade represents a 0.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total transaction of $225,422.55. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 231,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,664,323.42. The trade was a 1.51% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 20,352 shares of company stock valued at $1,165,720. 10.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

About Block

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.