Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock Price

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its price objective reduced by investment analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $90.00 to $85.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the technology company’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 31.46% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $94.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Block from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Citigroup raised shares of Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.12.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE XYZ traded down $0.43 during trading on Friday, hitting $64.66. The company had a trading volume of 3,263,160 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,185,367. Block has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $94.25. The business’s 50-day moving average is $66.08 and its 200 day moving average is $71.26. The company has a market cap of $39.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.02, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 2.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.18.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.29. Block had a return on equity of 5.54% and a net margin of 12.99%.The business had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other Block news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction of $221,531.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 123,198 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,357.20. This represents a 2.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,959 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total value of $611,482.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 272,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,760,051. This represents a 3.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 84,243 shares of company stock worth $5,844,695 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $3,730,489,000. Sands Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter worth approximately $702,446,000. Geode Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $634,721,000. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $627,233,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Block in the second quarter worth $535,305,000. 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.