Piper Sandler Cuts Block (NYSE:XYZ) Price Target to $55.00

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its target price trimmed by Piper Sandler from $58.00 to $55.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

XYZ has been the topic of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Block from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $82.00 price target on shares of Block and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Block from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Compass Point reissued a “sell” rating and set a $65.00 target price (down from $80.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.58.

Block Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of XYZ opened at $66.65 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The business has a fifty day moving average of $75.80 and a 200 day moving average of $69.99. The company has a market cap of $40.63 billion, a PE ratio of 13.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 2.73. Block has a 52-week low of $44.27 and a 52-week high of $99.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter. Block had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 7.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $2,811,600.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 535,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,871,680. This trade represents a 6.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,609 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.20, for a total value of $264,178.80. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 127,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,311,918.40. This represents a 2.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 119,041 shares of company stock worth $9,052,531 over the last three months. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of XYZ. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Block during the third quarter worth approximately $519,000. Avestar Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the third quarter valued at about $283,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Block by 14.7% during the third quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 11,209 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $826,000 after acquiring an additional 1,435 shares during the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP boosted its stake in Block by 252.0% during the 3rd quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 22,978 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,661,000 after acquiring an additional 16,451 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NEOS Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Block during the third quarter valued at approximately $4,508,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Company Profile

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.