Block (NYSE:XYZ) Downgraded by Zacks Research to Hold

Zacks Research cut shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on XYZ. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Block in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Oppenheimer cut Block from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Block from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.84.

Block Stock Performance

XYZ opened at $81.22 on Thursday. Block has a 1-year low of $48.21 and a 1-year high of $84.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.99. The company has a market capitalization of $48.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 2.54. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $75.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.50.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.55. The company had revenue of $6.06 billion for the quarter. Block had a return on equity of 7.02% and a net margin of 3.30%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. Block has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.860-0.860 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.850-3.850 EPS. Research analysts predict that Block will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 8,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $606,975.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 463,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,743,450. The trade was a 1.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Anthony Mathew Eisen sold 135,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.81, for a total value of $10,426,957.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,032,990 shares in the company, valued at $156,153,961.90. This trade represents a 6.26% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 347,300 shares of company stock valued at $26,657,536. Company insiders own 11.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Block

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Block by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 443 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 33.9% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 707 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Block by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 5,270 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Block by 3.3% in the second quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,081 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $462,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Finally, Carson Advisory Inc. increased its stake in Block by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 8,035 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $484,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Company Profile

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.