Block (NYSE:XYZ) Price Target Lowered to $74.00 at The Goldman Sachs Group

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its price target reduced by The Goldman Sachs Group from $94.00 to $74.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on XYZ. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Block from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Block from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Block from $101.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.39.

Block Trading Up 4.7 %

Shares of NYSE:XYZ opened at $57.99 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $35.92 billion, a PE ratio of 12.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.78. The company’s 50-day moving average is $70.66. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Block has a 12-month low of $52.25 and a 12-month high of $99.26.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,467 shares of Block 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 82,499 shares in the company, valued at $5,801,329.68. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 3,253 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 548,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,310,081.97. This trade represents a 0.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 15,585 shares of company stock valued at $1,088,423. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Block

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Block by 183.8% during the 4th 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 purchased a new stake in Block during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC bought a new position in Block in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,775,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp boosted its stake in shares of Block by 18,150.0% during the 4th quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 7,300 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $620,000 after acquiring an additional 7,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nepsis Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Block during the 4th quarter valued at $9,769,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.