Block (NYSE:XYZ) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Arete Research

Arete Research upgraded shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Block to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, February 27th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Zacks Research downgraded Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Block from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.79.

Block Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of XYZ stock opened at $63.03 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 2.20. The company has a market cap of $38.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.01, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 2.65. Block has a 1 year low of $44.27 and a 1 year high of $82.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $61.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.94.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%.Block’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,101 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total value of $70,441.98. Following the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 10,349 shares of the company’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 value of $517,450.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 503,784 shares in the company, valued at $25,189,200. This trade represents a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 16,797 shares of company stock valued at $940,298 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Block

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in XYZ. Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,439 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 853 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Block by 57.1% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 443 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Block by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 21,183 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,561,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Block by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 707 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.