Stephens Reaffirms Overweight Rating for Block (NYSE:XYZ)

Block (NYSE:XYZ)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by Stephens in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $95.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock. Stephens’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 53.65% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also commented on XYZ. Citigroup raised shares of Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Compass Point reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $65.00 target price (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 8th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $94.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Block currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.97.

Block Stock Performance

XYZ opened at $61.83 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.22. The firm has a market cap of $37.57 billion, a PE ratio of 12.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 2.73. The company has a quick ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Block has a fifty-two week low of $44.27 and a fifty-two week high of $99.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $6.11 billion during the quarter. Block had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 7.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,581 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $493,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 285,551 shares in the company, valued at $21,416,325. The trade was a 2.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 8,501 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.87, for a total transaction of $627,968.87. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 255,006 shares in the company, valued at $18,837,293.22. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 76,160 shares of company stock valued at $5,899,556 over the last 90 days. 10.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Cromwell Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Block in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. City Holding Co. acquired a new stake in Block in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC bought a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in Block in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Block during the second quarter worth $26,000. 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.