Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock Price Target Raised at Argus

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its price target lifted by investment analysts at Argus from $103.00 to $105.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. Argus‘s price target points to a potential upside of 23.66% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. KeyCorp upped their target price on Block from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Block from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Block from $93.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Citizens Jmp initiated coverage on shares of Block in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.87.

Block Stock Down 3.1%

Shares of XYZ stock traded down $2.72 on Thursday, reaching $84.91. 1,129,580 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,168,645. Block has a 12-month low of $48.21 and a 12-month high of $88.51. 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 company has a market capitalization of $51.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 114.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 2.58. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $77.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.30.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The technology company reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.45. The firm had revenue of $6.72 billion for the quarter. Block had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 1.80%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Block will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,511 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.43, for a total value of $783,991.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 423,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,889,486.66. The trade was a 2.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Anthony Eisen sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.48, for a total transaction of $488,880.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,482,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,808,114.56. This trade represents a 0.40% 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 226,686 shares of company stock worth $17,861,807. Insiders own 11.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of XYZ. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Block during the second quarter worth $621,703,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Block by 528.2% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,309,296 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $199,153,000 after buying an additional 2,782,523 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Block by 372.8% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 937,540 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $71,253,000 after buying an additional 739,264 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter worth about $23,531,000. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its position in shares of Block by 2,575.4% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 571,414 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $43,427,000 after buying an additional 550,056 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Block

Here are the key news stories impacting Block this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Block reported adjusted third-quarter earnings of $1.13 per share, above estimates, while revenue rose 9.9% year over year to $6.72 billion. Gross profit increased 22% to $3.24 billion, with Cash App lending and stronger Square activity driving growth. The company also raised its 2026 profit outlook. These results are the main catalyst behind the rally. Reuters: Block raises full-year profit outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts raised their price targets after the report. Susquehanna lifted its target to $110 with a positive rating; Bank of America raised its target to $117 and maintained a buy rating; RBC raised its target to $103 with an outperform rating; and TD Cowen increased its target to $109 with a buy rating. Susquehanna rating information
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst views were not uniformly bullish: Scotiabank maintained sector perform and Morgan Stanley kept an equal-weight rating, while Citizens JMP initiated coverage at hold. Their target changes nonetheless reflected some increase in estimated value. TickerReport analyst coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Block has set aside about $764 million in connection with a preliminary Justice Department settlement over money-laundering controls. The potential cash cost and continued scrutiny of the company’s compliance program could weigh on results and sentiment. Reuters: Block reaches preliminary DOJ settlement

Block Company Profile

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.