Block’s (XYZ) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank Of Canada

Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has a $90.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock.

XYZ has been the subject of several other reports. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 27th. HSBC raised Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Compass Point raised Block from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Block from $105.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.14.

Block Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of XYZ stock opened at $58.99 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $60.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.82. 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 has a 1 year low of $44.27 and a 1 year high of $82.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.09, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 2.65.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total transaction of $225,422.55. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 231,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,664,323.42. The trade was a 1.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 10,349 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $517,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 503,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,189,200. This trade represents a 2.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,352 shares of company stock valued at $1,165,720. 10.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,626,485 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,887,366,000 after buying an additional 12,709,824 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Block by 41.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 16,023,441 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,042,966,000 after acquiring an additional 4,727,217 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Block by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,406,899 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $934,121,000 after acquiring an additional 67,560 shares during the period. Sands Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Block by 12.2% during the third quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 11,603,057 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $838,553,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262,317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dragoneer Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter worth approximately $627,233,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Company Profile

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.