Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock Price Crosses Below Fifty Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ)’s share price crossed below its 50-day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of $75.15 and traded as low as $72.85. Block shares last traded at $72.87, with a volume of 4,617,098 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on XYZ shares. Wolfe Research set a $75.00 price target on Block in a report on Monday, May 19th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on Block from $75.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Block from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $86.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Twenty-four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Block has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.64.

Block Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $44.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.60, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 2.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $75.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.32 billion. Block had a return on equity of 7.85% and a net margin of 12.32%.Block’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In related news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 8,501 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.87, for a total transaction of $627,968.87. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 255,006 shares in the company, valued at $18,837,293.22. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 9,760 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.24, for a total value of $744,102.40. Following the sale, the insider owned 574,062 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,766,486.88. This trade represents a 1.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,757 shares of company stock worth $8,207,757 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. SouthState Corp bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.