BTIG Research Reiterates Buy Rating for Block (NYSE:XYZ)

Block (NYSE:XYZ)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities research analysts at BTIG Research in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $90.00 target price on the technology company’s stock. BTIG Research’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 25.32% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on XYZ. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Block from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Block from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 2nd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of Block from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $45.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Block has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.67.

Block Trading Down 2.8%

XYZ opened at $71.82 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.03 billion, a PE ratio of 34.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 2.61. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $60.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 2.20. Block has a 12-month low of $44.27 and a 12-month high of $82.50.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $6.25 billion for the quarter. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. The company’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Block will post 2.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total transaction of $225,422.55. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 231,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,664,323.42. This represents a 1.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,769 shares of the 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 sale, the insider directly owned 500,763 shares in the company, valued at $30,170,970.75. This trade represents a 0.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 15,806 shares of company stock worth $857,468 over the last three months. 10.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. City Holding Co. bought a new position in shares of Block during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Block by 57.1% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 443 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the third quarter worth about $30,000. 70.44% of the stock is 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.