Block (NYSE:XYZ) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Bank of America

Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) in a report issued on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $88.00 target price on the technology company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho increased their price target on Block from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Block from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Compass Point raised shares of Block from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Arete Research upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.79.

Block Stock Performance

NYSE:XYZ traded down $1.16 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $66.22. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,034,224 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,076,510. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $40.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.53, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 2.65. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $61.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.92. Block has a 12-month low of $44.27 and a 12-month high of $82.50.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. The business’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Block news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total value of $225,422.55. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 231,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,664,323.42. This represents a 1.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,173 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.09, for a total value of $76,350.57. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 98,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,405,637.08. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,352 shares of company stock worth $1,165,720. 10.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in XYZ. Cromwell Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block in the third quarter worth $27,000. City Holding Co. bought a new stake in Block in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.