Block (NYSE:XYZ) Earns Buy Rating from BTIG Research

Block (NYSE:XYZ)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by investment analysts at BTIG Research in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $100.00 target price on the technology company’s stock. BTIG Research’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 36.05% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Block from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Block in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Block from $92.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research cut shares of Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.42.

Block Trading Down 3.8%

Shares of Block stock traded down $2.92 on Friday, hitting $73.50. The stock had a trading volume of 3,422,310 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,301,183. The company has a quick ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Block has a one year low of $48.21 and a one year high of $86.92. The stock has a market cap of $44.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 131.58, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 2.52. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $80.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.32.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.54. Block had a net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 8.10%. The firm had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.62 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Block has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.020-4.020 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.020-1.020 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Block will post 2.74 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,511 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.43, for a total value of $783,991.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 423,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,889,486.66. The trade was a 2.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Anthony Eisen sold 41,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.85, for a total transaction of $3,519,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,566,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $134,498,791.20. This represents a 2.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 363,913 shares of company stock valued at $29,462,126 in the last quarter. 11.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Raiffeisen Bank International AG increased its stake in shares of Block by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 44,901 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,503,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Block by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 707 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Block by 3.3% during the second quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,081 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $462,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Carson Advisory Inc. increased its position in Block by 2.6% in the first quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 8,035 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $484,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ellevest Inc. increased its position in Block by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 5,288 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $344,000 after buying an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

About Block

Block, Inc is a global technology company that develops financial services and commerce tools for businesses and consumers. Founded in 2009 as Square, the company changed its corporate name to Block in 2021 to reflect the expansion of its operations beyond seller-focused payment solutions.

Through its Square ecosystem, Block provides payment processing, point-of-sale hardware and software, business banking, invoicing, payroll, inventory management and other tools for merchants. Its consumer-focused Cash App offers services that may include peer-to-peer payments, money transfers, investing, debit-card access and bitcoin-related functionality, subject to availability and applicable regulations.

Block also owns Afterpay, a buy now, pay later platform, and has operated additional businesses involving music streaming and bitcoin infrastructure.