Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock Rating Lowered by Benchmark

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was downgraded by Benchmark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

XYZ has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Block from $101.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $87.00 to $80.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Block from $94.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.22.

Block Stock Down 20.4 %

Shares of NYSE XYZ opened at $46.57 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 2.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.85 billion, a PE ratio of 10.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.83. Block has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $99.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.11). Block had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 5.80%. The business had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.23 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,976 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.19, for a total transaction of $111,031.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 233,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,141,604.82. The trade was a 0.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $103,159.44. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 82,499 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,801,329.68. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,324 shares of company stock valued at $1,297,662. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of XYZ. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Block by 183.8% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 9,154 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $778,000 after acquiring an additional 5,929 shares during the last quarter. Guerra Pan Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Block in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC purchased a new position in Block in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,775,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp raised its holdings in Block by 18,150.0% during the fourth quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 7,300 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $620,000 after purchasing an additional 7,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nepsis Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,769,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Block Company Profile

Square, Inc provides payment and point-of-sale solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's commerce ecosystem includes point-of-sale software and hardware that enables sellers to turn mobile and computing devices into payment and point-of-sale solutions. It offers hardware products, including Magstripe reader, which enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Contactless and chip reader that accepts EMV® chip cards and Near Field Communication payments; Chip card reader, which accepts EMV® chip cards and enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Square Stand, which enables an iPad to be used as a payment terminal or full point of sale solution; and Square Register that combines its hardware, point-of-sale software, and payments technology, as well as managed payments solutions.