Block (NYSE:XYZ) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) shares gapped down before the market opened on Friday following a weaker than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $83.04, but opened at $74.97. Block shares last traded at $70.65, with a volume of 9,871,836 shares.

The technology company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $6.23 billion. Block had a return on equity of 5.24% and a net margin of 4.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on XYZ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Block from $100.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Block from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.23.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 2,044 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.72, for a total transaction of $177,255.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 83,966 shares in the company, valued at $7,281,531.52. This represents a 2.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 2,836 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 195,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,469,231.62. This trade represents a 1.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,247 shares of company stock valued at $832,865. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Block by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,651,886 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $110,891,000 after purchasing an additional 8,200 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its position in shares of Block by 13.5% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,083,113 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $72,709,000 after acquiring an additional 128,832 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block during the fourth quarter worth about $1,315,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in shares of Block by 1.5% during the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,233,102 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $686,948,000 after acquiring an additional 147,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Block during the fourth quarter worth about $10,779,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Block Trading Down 17.7 %

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 $42.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.39, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.52.

Block Company Profile

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.