Block (NYSE:XYZ) Coverage Initiated at Evercore ISI

Analysts at Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage set an “in-line” rating and a $52.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 1.94% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $100.00 price objective on Block in a research report on Saturday, March 8th. UBS Group cut their price target on Block from $98.00 to $97.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com began coverage on Block in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Block from $112.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.82.

Block Price Performance

NYSE XYZ opened at $53.03 on Wednesday. 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 has a market capitalization of $32.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $65.04. Block has a 52-week low of $46.42 and a 52-week high of $99.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its 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). The company had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.23 billion. Block had a return on equity of 5.80% and a net margin of 11.92%. On average, analysts predict that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.48, for a total transaction of $27,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 81,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,467,305.52. This represents a 0.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,345 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total value of $446,180.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 235,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,585,253.28. This trade represents a 2.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,324 shares of company stock worth $1,297,662. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of XYZ. Graypoint LLC bought a new position in Block during the fourth quarter worth about $32,445,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Block by 391.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 292,571 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $24,866,000 after buying an additional 232,989 shares in the last quarter. Private Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Block during the 4th quarter worth approximately $15,727,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Block by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,690,075 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $581,923,000 after buying an additional 133,002 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd bought a new stake in Block in the fourth quarter valued at $10,779,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.