Block (NYSE:XYZ) Price Target Lowered to $97.00 at UBS Group

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its price objective reduced by UBS Group from $98.00 to $97.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets cut Block from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $94.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Macquarie boosted their target price on Block from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Block from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.23.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of XYZ stock opened at $68.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 2.07. Block has a 52 week low of $55.00 and a 52 week high of $99.26. The company has a market capitalization of $42.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.52.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 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 analyst estimates of $6.23 billion. Block had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 5.24%. On average, research analysts forecast that Block will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 2,044 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.72, for a total transaction of $177,255.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 83,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,281,531.52. The trade was a 2.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,865 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $272,175.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 85,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,097,325. This represents a 3.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,247 shares of company stock valued at $832,865. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of XYZ. Creative Planning lifted its position in Block by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 73,399 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,927,000 after acquiring an additional 6,990 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Block by 30.0% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,798 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $121,000 after buying an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Block by 15.1% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,322 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $559,000 after buying an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block during the third quarter valued at about $58,850,000. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of Block by 0.4% during the third quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 109,276 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,336,000 after buying an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

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.