Block (NYSE:XYZ) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

XYZ has been the subject of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Block from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 2nd. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Block from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.72.

Block Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of XYZ opened at $64.21 on Friday. Block has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $82.50. The company has a market cap of $38.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 2.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.84.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.39. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. The business had revenue of $6.25 billion for the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 10,349 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $517,450.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 503,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,189,200. This trade represents a 2.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total transaction of $225,422.55. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 231,262 shares in the company, valued at $14,664,323.42. This trade represents a 1.51% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 15,806 shares of company stock worth $857,468 in the last three months. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. City Holding Co. purchased a new position in Block during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Block during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Block during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its position in Block by 57.1% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 443 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in Block during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

About Block

Block (NYSE:XYZ) is a financial technology company that builds products and services to facilitate electronic payments, commerce, and consumer finance. Its principal business lines include a seller-focused ecosystem that provides point-of-sale hardware and software, payment processing, invoicing, payroll and lending services, and a consumer-facing platform that offers peer-to-peer payments, banking-like features, and investing. Block’s portfolio also encompasses music streaming and buy-now-pay-later capabilities through businesses acquired to broaden its reach beyond core payments.

The company was founded as Square in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey and later rebranded to Block to reflect a diversified set of businesses across payments, consumer finance, and emerging technologies.