Cantor Fitzgerald Upgrades Block (NYSE:XYZ) to “Strong-Buy”

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was upgraded by stock analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Block from $96.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $94.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.09.

Block Price Performance

Block stock opened at $64.59 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.02, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 2.66. The company has a quick ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Block has a 52-week low of $44.27 and a 52-week high of $94.25.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $6.11 billion during the quarter. Block had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 5.54%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,959 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total value of $611,482.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 272,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,760,051. The trade was a 3.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $500,946.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 521,352 shares in the company, valued at $32,302,969.92. This represents a 1.53% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 54,796 shares of company stock valued at $3,395,943 over the last ninety days. 10.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in XYZ. S Bank Fund Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter worth $92,000. Praxis Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $508,000. Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,105,000. SilverOak Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at about $218,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA purchased a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at about $94,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.