Block (NYSE:XYZ) Lowered to Neutral Rating by BNP Paribas Exane

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was downgraded by equities research analysts at BNP Paribas Exane from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They presently have a $86.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. BNP Paribas Exane’s price objective points to a potential upside of 11.62% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $97.00 target price (up previously from $63.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Macquarie lifted their target price on shares of Block from $50.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Argus set a $59.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Compass Point reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $65.00 target price (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.38.

Block Price Performance

NYSE:XYZ traded down $2.59 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $77.05. The stock had a trading volume of 1,116,897 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,839,980. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 2.68. Block has a one year low of $44.27 and a one year high of $99.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.32 billion. Block had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 7.85%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 10,424 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.20, for a total value of $763,036.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 263,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,288,712.40. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Dhananjay Prasanna sold 5,659 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.72, for a total transaction of $417,181.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 289,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,341,350.24. The trade was a 1.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 103,182 shares of company stock worth $7,605,679. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. purchased a new position in Block during the second quarter worth about $3,730,489,000. Sands Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at about $702,446,000. Geode Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at about $634,721,000. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the second quarter worth about $627,233,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter worth approximately $535,305,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.