Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) Receives $94.46 Average Target Price from Analysts

Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-nine analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $91.82.

XYZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Block from $115.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Friday, February 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $87.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Macquarie reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Block from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 82,499 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,801,329.68. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 4,520 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total value of $317,846.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 551,850 shares in the company, valued at $38,806,092. This trade represents a 0.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 19,324 shares of company stock worth $1,297,662. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 183.8% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 9,154 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $778,000 after acquiring an additional 5,929 shares in the last quarter. Guerra Pan Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Block in the fourth quarter valued at about $211,000. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC purchased a new position in Block in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,775,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp lifted its stake in shares of Block by 18,150.0% during the fourth quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 7,300 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $620,000 after purchasing an additional 7,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nepsis Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the fourth quarter worth about $9,769,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Block Trading Down 5.3 %

Block stock opened at $53.03 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $32.85 billion, a PE ratio of 11.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.77. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $65.04. Block has a twelve month low of $46.42 and a twelve month high of $99.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.11). The firm 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%. Equities analysts predict that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

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.