Block (NYSE:XYZ) Upgraded by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods to “Outperform” Rating

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $80.00 target price on the technology company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $87.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target suggests a potential upside of 30.17% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on XYZ. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Saturday, March 8th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Block from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Block from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.41.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:XYZ opened at $61.46 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $38.07 billion, a PE ratio of 13.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.78. Block has a 1-year low of $53.54 and a 1-year high of $99.26. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $72.68.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.11). Block had a return on equity of 5.80% and a net margin of 11.92%. The business had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.23 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 2,836 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 195,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,469,231.62. This trade represents a 1.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 3,253 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total transaction of $221,236.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 548,597 shares in the company, valued at $37,310,081.97. The trade was a 0.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,967 shares of company stock worth $1,649,113. 10.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of XYZ. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its position in Block by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 8,369 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $562,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Block by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,593 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 813 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in Block by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 19,877 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,334,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Block by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 23,778 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,596,000 after purchasing an additional 657 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its position in Block by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,651,886 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $110,891,000 after purchasing an additional 8,200 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.