Block (NYSE:XYZ) Given “Buy” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $90.00 price target on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Block from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Block from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $94.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Block in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.14.

Block Stock Down 17.7 %

NYSE XYZ opened at $68.34 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Block has a 1-year low of $55.00 and a 1-year high of $99.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.36 billion, a PE ratio of 15.02, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.52.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.11). Block had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 5.80%. The business had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.23 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,865 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $272,175.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 85,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,097,325. This represents a 3.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 2,836 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.38, for a total value of $253,481.68. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 195,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,469,231.62. This represents a 1.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,247 shares of company stock valued at $832,865 over the last 90 days. 10.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in XYZ. Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Block by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $709,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in shares of Block by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 418 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its position in shares of Block by 1.9% in the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 7,744 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $520,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 26,864 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,283,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 982 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Block

Square, Inc provides payment and point-of-sale solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's commerce ecosystem includes point-of-sale software and hardware that enables sellers to turn mobile and computing devices into payment and point-of-sale solutions. It offers hardware products, including Magstripe reader, which enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Contactless and chip reader that accepts EMV® chip cards and Near Field Communication payments; Chip card reader, which accepts EMV® chip cards and enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Square Stand, which enables an iPad to be used as a payment terminal or full point of sale solution; and Square Register that combines its hardware, point-of-sale software, and payments technology, as well as managed payments solutions.