Citigroup Upgrades Block (NYSE:XYZ) to “Strong-Buy”

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was upgraded by research analysts at Citigroup from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Block from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised Block from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Zacks Research upgraded Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Rosenblatt Securities set a $100.00 target price on Block in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Block from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.64.

Block Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of Block stock opened at $80.00 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.62. The company has a market cap of $47.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.50, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 2.54. Block has a 12-month low of $48.21 and a 12-month high of $84.08.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.55. The firm had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter. Block had a net margin of 3.30% and a return on equity of 7.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. Block has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.860-0.860 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.850-3.850 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Block will post 2.48 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Block news, Director Anthony Mathew Eisen sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.35, for a total value of $470,100.00. Following the sale, the director owned 1,838,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $144,059,951.20. This represents a 0.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 43,348 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $3,467,840.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 557,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,612,320. This represents a 7.21% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders have sold 357,219 shares of company stock worth $27,286,681 in the last three months. 11.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Block by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 707 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Block by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 5,270 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $343,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Block by 3.3% in the second quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,081 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $462,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA grew its holdings in Block by 33.3% during the third quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA now owns 800 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Company Profile

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.