Block (NYSE:XYZ) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $88.00 price target for the company. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.79.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of Block stock opened at $59.78 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $61.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.39. The firm has a market cap of $36.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 2.65. Block has a 12 month low of $44.27 and a 12 month high of $82.50.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.39. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. The company had revenue of $6.25 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total value of $225,422.55. Following the sale, the insider owned 231,262 shares in the company, valued at $14,664,323.42. This represents a 1.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,101 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total value of $70,441.98. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 271,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,393,858.72. This represents a 0.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 20,352 shares of company stock worth $1,165,720 over the last ninety days. 10.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of XYZ. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Block by 23.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,626,485 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,887,366,000 after purchasing an additional 12,709,824 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Block by 41.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 16,023,441 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,042,966,000 after purchasing an additional 4,727,217 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Block by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,406,899 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $934,121,000 after purchasing an additional 67,560 shares during the last quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Block by 12.2% during the third quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 11,603,057 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $838,553,000 after buying an additional 1,262,317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dragoneer Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter worth $627,233,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.