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

Citigroup upgraded shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price target (up from $79.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $97.00 target price (up from $63.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Block from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Four equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.30.

Block Stock Up 3.5%

Shares of NYSE:XYZ opened at $78.59 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $76.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.04. The stock has a market cap of $47.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 2.71. Block has a fifty-two week low of $44.27 and a fifty-two week high of $99.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $60,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 102,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,184,640. This trade represents a 0.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 406 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total value of $30,356.62. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 126,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,481,284.62. This represents a 0.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 123,041 shares of company stock valued at $9,355,075. 10.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Block in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new stake in Block in the second quarter valued at $26,000. City Holding Co. acquired a new stake in Block in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Block in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, SouthState Corp acquired a new stake in Block in the second quarter valued at $29,000. 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.