Block (NYSE:XYZ) Raised to “Overweight” at Morgan Stanley

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was upgraded by Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $67.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $65.00. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 33.55% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on XYZ. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Block from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Block from $112.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $87.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Block from $98.00 to $97.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $100.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.46.

Block Stock Down 7.0 %

XYZ stock opened at $50.17 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.08 billion, a PE ratio of 11.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.77. Block has a fifty-two week low of $47.69 and a fifty-two week high of $99.26.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,345 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 $446,180.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 235,854 shares in the company, valued at $16,585,253.28. This represents a 2.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 4,520 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total value of $317,846.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 551,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,806,092. This represents a 0.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,324 shares of company stock worth $1,297,662 over the last 90 days. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of XYZ. Diversify Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the fourth quarter valued at $1,315,000. Perpetual Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 4th quarter worth about $10,779,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Block by 6.2% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 253,787 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $17,037,000 after buying an additional 14,822 shares in the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Block by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 8,065 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $685,000 after buying an additional 717 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TB Alternative Assets Ltd. acquired a new stake in Block during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,530,000. 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.