Block’s (XYZ) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at BTIG Research

BTIG Research reiterated their buy rating on shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) in a research note published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $90.00 price target on the technology company’s stock.

XYZ has been the topic of several other reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Block from $55.00 to $51.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Loop Capital assumed coverage on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of Block from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.67.

Block Price Performance

Shares of XYZ opened at $72.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.41 billion, a PE ratio of 34.51, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 2.61. The company’s 50-day moving average is $60.51 and its 200-day moving average is $64.69. Block has a fifty-two week low of $44.27 and a fifty-two week high of $82.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 2.20.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $6.25 billion for the quarter. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. Block’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 company earned $0.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Block will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 30,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $2,318,925.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 500,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,561,200. This trade represents a 5.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 10,349 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider owned 503,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,189,200. The trade was a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 49,725 shares of company stock valued at $3,401,393 in the last 90 days. 10.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in XYZ. City Holding Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Block during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Block during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in Block by 57.1% during 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 period. Finally, Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Block during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.