Block (NYSE:XYZ) Raised to Strong-Buy at Citigroup

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was upgraded by investment analysts at Citigroup to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $94.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Block from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $86.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.42.

Block Trading Up 1.3%

NYSE XYZ opened at $79.56 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.04, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 2.71. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $76.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.96. Block has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $99.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.41. Block had a return on equity of 7.85% and a net margin of 12.32%.The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.32 billion. The company’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In related news, insider Dhananjay Prasanna sold 5,659 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.72, for a total transaction of $417,181.48. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 289,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,341,350.24. The trade was a 1.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 10,424 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.20, for a total value of $763,036.80. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 263,507 shares in the company, valued at $19,288,712.40. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 123,041 shares of company stock worth $9,355,075 in the last three months. 10.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cidel Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $311,000. Private Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $380,000. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $565,000. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $4,062,000. Finally, Praxis Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $508,000. Institutional investors 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.