Block (NYSE:XYZ) Price Target Raised to $88.00

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its price objective increased by Cantor Fitzgerald from $78.00 to $88.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Arete Research upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. HSBC upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Block from $105.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Block from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Block from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.67.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE XYZ opened at $69.95 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Block has a 12 month low of $44.27 and a 12 month high of $82.50. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.73. The stock has a market cap of $41.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.31, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 2.61.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.39. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. The business had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Block will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $225,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 268,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,112,675. The trade was a 1.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,769 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.25, for a total transaction of $106,582.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 500,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,170,970.75. The trade was a 0.35% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 49,725 shares of company stock worth $3,401,393 in the last quarter. 10.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in XYZ. Baird Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter worth $1,866,000. Brown Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter worth $516,000. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter worth $385,000. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter worth $53,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter worth $1,861,000. Hedge funds and other 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.