BTIG Research Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Block (NYSE:XYZ)

Block (NYSE:XYZ)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by BTIG Research in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $100.00 target price on the technology company’s stock. BTIG Research’s target price indicates a potential upside of 32.01% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on XYZ. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Block in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $82.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Block to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Block from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research lowered Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Block from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.42.

Block Price Performance

XYZ stock opened at $75.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a current ratio of 2.21. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.32. The company has a market capitalization of $45.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 135.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 2.52. Block has a 52-week low of $48.21 and a 52-week high of $86.92.

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

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, Director Anthony Eisen sold 41,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.85, for a total value of $3,519,850.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,566,672 shares in the company, valued at $134,498,791.20. The trade was a 2.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 43,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $3,467,840.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 557,654 shares in the company, valued at $44,612,320. This represents a 7.21% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 363,913 shares of company stock worth $29,462,126. Insiders own 11.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at about $621,703,000. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Block by 41.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 16,023,441 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,042,966,000 after purchasing an additional 4,727,217 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Block during the fourth quarter worth about $484,387,000. Contour Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Block by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC now owns 4,666,891 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $303,768,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088,299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Block by 528.2% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,309,296 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $199,153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,782,523 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.