KeyCorp Has Lowered Expectations for Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock Price

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its target price dropped by KeyCorp from $115.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the technology company’s stock. KeyCorp’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 38.30% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Block from $109.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on Block from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer raised Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.41.

Block Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of Block stock opened at $61.46 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07. Block has a 12 month low of $53.54 and a 12 month high of $99.26. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $72.68.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.23 billion. Block had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 5.80%. Analysts forecast that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other Block news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 2,836 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.38, for a total transaction of $253,481.68. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,467 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total value of $103,159.44. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 82,499 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,801,329.68. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,967 shares of company stock worth $1,649,113 over the last quarter. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Block by 183.8% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 9,154 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $778,000 after purchasing an additional 5,929 shares during the last quarter. Guerra Pan Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,775,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp increased its holdings in shares of Block by 18,150.0% in the fourth quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 7,300 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $620,000 after purchasing an additional 7,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nepsis Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,769,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

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.