Block (NYSE:XYZ) Raised to Neutral at Rothschild & Co Redburn

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was upgraded by equities researchers at Rothschild & Co Redburn from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a $55.00 target price on the technology company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $45.00. Rothschild & Co Redburn’s price target points to a potential downside of 8.02% from the company’s current price.

XYZ has been the topic of several other reports. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Block from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, February 27th. HSBC raised Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $70.00 to $77.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Block from $55.00 to $51.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.00.

Block Price Performance

NYSE XYZ opened at $59.80 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $60.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.94. Block has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $82.50. The stock has a market cap of $36.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 2.64. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $6.25 billion for the quarter. Block had a return on equity of 6.66% and a net margin of 5.40%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. Analysts forecast that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,101 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total value of $70,441.98. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 271,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,393,858.72. The trade was a 0.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 10,349 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $517,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 503,784 shares in the company, valued at $25,189,200. The trade was a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,352 shares of company stock worth $1,165,720. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its stake in shares of Block by 24.0% in the third quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 179,271 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,956,000 after purchasing an additional 34,678 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd bought a new stake in Block during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,383,000. New York Life Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Block in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,400,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Block by 2,385.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 612,358 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $44,255,000 after buying an additional 587,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Investment Management Co. bought a new position in Block in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,323,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

About Block

Block (NYSE:XYZ) is a financial technology company that builds products and services to facilitate electronic payments, commerce, and consumer finance. Its principal business lines include a seller-focused ecosystem that provides point-of-sale hardware and software, payment processing, invoicing, payroll and lending services, and a consumer-facing platform that offers peer-to-peer payments, banking-like features, and investing. Block’s portfolio also encompasses music streaming and buy-now-pay-later capabilities through businesses acquired to broaden its reach beyond core payments.

The company was founded as Square in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey and later rebranded to Block to reflect a diversified set of businesses across payments, consumer finance, and emerging technologies.