Block (NYSE:XYZ) Price Target Lowered to $71.00 at Morgan Stanley

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its price objective cut by Morgan Stanley from $77.00 to $71.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on XYZ. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $94.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Block from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Block from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.58.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of XYZ traded down $5.44 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $65.49. 21,392,953 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,641,801. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.78. The company has a market cap of $39.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.20, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 2.73. Block has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $6.11 billion during the quarter. Block had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 8.49%. Block’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $60,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 102,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,184,640. The trade was a 0.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total value of $78,508.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 253,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,988,290.12. The trade was a 0.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 119,041 shares of company stock worth $9,052,531 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. City Holding Co. bought a new stake in Block during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC acquired a new position in Block in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, SouthState Corp bought a new position in shares of Block during 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.