Citigroup Cuts Block (NYSE:XYZ) Price Target to $90.00

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its price target reduced by Citigroup from $108.00 to $90.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Block from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $100.00 to $89.00 in a report on Monday, February 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.00.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE XYZ opened at $57.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07. The company has a market cap of $35.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.78. The company has a fifty day moving average of $73.59. Block has a 52-week low of $53.54 and a 52-week high of $99.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.11). Block had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 5.80%. The company had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.23 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 2,044 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.72, for a total transaction of $177,255.68. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 83,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,281,531.52. This represents a 2.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 3,253 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total transaction of $221,236.53. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 548,597 shares in the company, valued at $37,310,081.97. The trade was a 0.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,967 shares of company stock worth $1,649,113. 10.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in Block by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,651,886 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $110,891,000 after buying an additional 8,200 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the fourth quarter worth $1,315,000. Perpetual Ltd purchased a new stake in Block during the fourth quarter worth $10,779,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Block by 6.2% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 253,787 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $17,037,000 after buying an additional 14,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Block by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 8,065 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $685,000 after purchasing an additional 717 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

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.