Block (NYSE:XYZ) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Arete Research upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a report on Friday, March 27th. Piper Sandler lowered 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. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $72.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.72.

Block Trading Up 2.9%

Shares of Block stock opened at $68.04 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.76 billion, a PE ratio of 32.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 2.61. Block has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $82.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $58.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.20.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its earnings results 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. Block had a return on equity of 6.66% and a net margin of 5.40%.The company had revenue of $6.25 billion for the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. Block’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,769 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.25, for a total value of $106,582.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 500,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,170,970.75. This represents a 0.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total transaction of $225,422.55. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 231,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,664,323.42. This trade represents a 1.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 15,806 shares of company stock valued at $857,468. 10.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of XYZ. City Holding Co. bought a new position in Block in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 57.1% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 443 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. 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.