Needham & Company LLC Lowers Block (NYSE:XYZ) Price Target to $80.00

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its target price decreased by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $100.00 to $80.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 20.11% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on XYZ. Compass Point reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $65.00 price target (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Block from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $97.00 price target (up previously from $63.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.58.

Block Stock Down 6.1%

Shares of NYSE XYZ traded down $4.33 on Friday, reaching $66.60. 15,467,604 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,006,967. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.69. Block has a 12 month low of $44.27 and a 12 month high of $99.26. The company has a market cap of $40.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 2.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.29. Block had a return on equity of 7.85% and a net margin of 12.32%.The company had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total value of $78,508.50. Following the transaction, the insider owned 253,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,988,290.12. This represents a 0.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $60,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 102,308 shares in the company, valued at $8,184,640. This trade represents a 0.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 119,041 shares of company stock valued at $9,052,531 over the last ninety days. 10.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of XYZ. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Block during the second quarter valued at $2,055,000. Lane Generational LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $6,043,000. Bessemer Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $62,389,000. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,094,000. Finally, Cidel Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $311,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

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.