Block (NYSE:XYZ) Upgraded to Outperform at BNP Paribas Exane

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was upgraded by stock analysts at BNP Paribas Exane from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $83.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. BNP Paribas Exane’s price target points to a potential upside of 17.83% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on XYZ. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Zacks Research cut Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Block from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Block from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.94.

Block Price Performance

Shares of XYZ traded up $0.44 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $70.44. The stock had a trading volume of 564,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,156,731. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a market capitalization of $42.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 2.66. The company’s 50-day moving average is $65.35 and its 200 day moving average is $71.45. Block has a 12-month low of $44.27 and a 12-month high of $94.25.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $6.11 billion during the quarter. Block had a return on equity of 5.54% and a net margin of 12.99%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total value of $221,531.20. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 123,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,357.20. This represents a 2.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 822 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total transaction of $52,591.56. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 242,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,529,097.64. This trade represents a 0.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 54,796 shares of company stock valued at $3,395,943 over the last 90 days. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Block by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,626,485 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,887,366,000 after buying an additional 12,709,824 shares in the last quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Block by 12.2% during the third quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 11,603,057 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $838,553,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262,317 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Block by 192.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,296,224 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $816,378,000 after purchasing an additional 7,436,380 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $634,721,000. Finally, Dragoneer Investment Group LLC bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $627,233,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Company Profile

Block (NYSE:XYZ) is a financial technology company that builds products and services to facilitate electronic payments, commerce, and consumer finance. Its principal business lines include a seller-focused ecosystem that provides point-of-sale hardware and software, payment processing, invoicing, payroll and lending services, and a consumer-facing platform that offers peer-to-peer payments, banking-like features, and investing. Block’s portfolio also encompasses music streaming and buy-now-pay-later capabilities through businesses acquired to broaden its reach beyond core payments.

The company was founded as Square in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey and later rebranded to Block to reflect a diversified set of businesses across payments, consumer finance, and emerging technologies.