Block (NYSE:XYZ) Upgraded at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on XYZ. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Block from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.67.

Block Stock Down 3.5%

XYZ stock opened at $69.95 on Tuesday. Block has a 52-week low of $44.27 and a 52-week high of $82.50. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 2.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 2.61.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Block will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 30,919 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 500,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,561,200. The trade was a 5.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $225,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 268,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,112,675. This represents a 1.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 49,725 shares of company stock valued at $3,401,393. 10.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in XYZ. City Holding Co. bought a new stake in Block in the third quarter worth approximately $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% 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 bought a new stake in shares of Block during the 3rd quarter worth $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.