Block (NYSE:XYZ) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was downgraded by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $80.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $90.00. Morgan Stanley‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 4.67% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on XYZ. Craig Hallum began coverage on shares of Block in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Block from $86.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Block to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Clear Str upgraded shares of Block to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.61.

Block Trading Down 0.0%

XYZ stock opened at $76.43 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Block has a twelve month low of $48.21 and a twelve month high of $86.92. The company has a market cap of $45.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 136.49, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 2.55. The business has a fifty day moving average of $78.51 and a 200-day moving average of $75.63.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.54. The business had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter. Block had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 1.43%. Block’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.62 EPS. Block has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.020-4.020 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.020-1.020 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Block will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, Director Anthony Eisen sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.07, for a total value of $474,420.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,242,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $98,258,075.04. The trade was a 0.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 308,565 shares of company stock worth $24,873,186 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.37% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter worth approximately $621,703,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Block by 528.2% during 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 during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Block by 372.8% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 937,540 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $71,253,000 after purchasing an additional 739,264 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter worth approximately $23,531,000. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its holdings in Block by 2,575.4% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 571,414 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $43,427,000 after purchasing an additional 550,056 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

About Block

Block, Inc is a financial technology company that provides payments, commerce, and financial services through an ecosystem of business and consumer products. Formerly known as Square, the company was co-founded by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey and changed its corporate name to Block in 2021.

Its Square ecosystem serves businesses with point-of-sale hardware, payment processing, invoicing, payroll, inventory management, customer engagement, online commerce, and other software tools. Block also offers lending and other financial services to eligible business customers through Square-related products.

For consumers, Block operates Cash App, a mobile financial services platform that supports services such as peer-to-peer payments, money transfers, a Cash App Card, direct deposit, investing, and bitcoin transactions, subject to product and geographic availability.