Block (NYSE:XYZ) Rating Increased to Buy at Truist Financial

Truist Financial upgraded shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has $77.00 target price on the technology company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $72.00.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on XYZ. BNP Paribas Exane raised Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Block from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Block from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.14.

Block Price Performance

Shares of XYZ opened at $57.87 on Wednesday. Block has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $82.50. The company has a 50 day moving average of $60.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.88. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market cap of $35.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 2.65.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 10,349 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $517,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 503,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,189,200. This trade represents a 2.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total value of $225,422.55. Following the transaction, the insider owned 231,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,664,323.42. This represents a 1.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have 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

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cromwell Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Block in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. City Holding Co. acquired a new position in Block in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Block in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

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.