Block (NYSE:XYZ) Upgraded to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. Morgan Stanley currently has $67.00 target price on the technology company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $65.00.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Oppenheimer upgraded Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Block from $112.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Block from $115.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $87.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Block from $108.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.46.

Block Price Performance

Shares of XYZ opened at $50.17 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $69.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.08 billion, a PE ratio of 11.03, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.77. Block has a 1-year low of $47.69 and a 1-year high of $99.26. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

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

Insider Transactions at Block

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,345 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total value of $446,180.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 235,854 shares in the company, valued at $16,585,253.28. This represents a 2.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,467 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $103,159.44. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 82,499 shares in the company, valued at $5,801,329.68. This represents a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,324 shares of company stock valued at $1,297,662 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Block by 67.7% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 394 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in Block by 48.2% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 418 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its holdings in Block by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 982 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Block by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $139,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ulland Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Block by 92.3% during the fourth quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,135 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,025 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.