Block’s (XYZ) “Hold (C+)” Rating Reiterated at Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings restated their hold (c+) rating on shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) in a research note published on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Piper Sandler reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $58.00 price objective (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Block from $71.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Block from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Twenty-four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.64.

Block Trading Down 7.5%

NYSE:XYZ opened at $74.80 on Wednesday. Block has a one year low of $44.27 and a one year high of $99.26. 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.02, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 2.71.

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

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, insider Dhananjay Prasanna sold 5,659 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.72, for a total transaction of $417,181.48. Following the transaction, the insider owned 289,492 shares in the company, valued at $21,341,350.24. This represents a 1.92% 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 Owen Britton Jennings sold 10,424 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.20, for a total transaction of $763,036.80. Following the transaction, the insider owned 263,507 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,288,712.40. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,292 shares of company stock worth $11,305,232 in the last three months. 10.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA bought a new position in Block during the third quarter valued at approximately $619,000. Corsicana & Co. bought a new position in Block during the third quarter valued at approximately $189,000. Focus Financial Network Inc. purchased a new stake in Block during the third quarter valued at approximately $488,000. Secure Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the third quarter valued at approximately $283,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc purchased a new stake in Block during the third quarter valued at approximately $52,000. 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.