Block (NYSE:XYZ) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Sunday.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of Block from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Block from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.67.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of XYZ stock opened at $71.82 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.20, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 2.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.20. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.64. Block has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $82.50.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.39. The business 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 quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Block will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total value of $225,422.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 231,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,664,323.42. The trade was a 1.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 10,349 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $517,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 503,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,189,200. The trade was a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 15,806 shares of company stock valued at $857,468 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Block by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,439 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $321,000 after buying an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its position in shares of Block by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 853 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Block by 57.1% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 443 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of Block by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 21,183 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,561,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Block by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 707 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.