Block (NYSE:XYZ) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on XYZ. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Block from $55.00 to $51.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Arete Research upgraded Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane raised Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $93.00 in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded Block from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.91.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:XYZ opened at $56.07 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $33.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 2.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $59.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.11. Block has a fifty-two week low of $44.27 and a fifty-two week high of $82.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.20.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.39. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. The business had revenue of $6.25 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,101 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total transaction of $70,441.98. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 271,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,393,858.72. The trade was a 0.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,173 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.09, for a total value of $76,350.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 98,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,405,637.08. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,352 shares of company stock valued at $1,165,720. Insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its stake in shares of Block by 24.0% during the third quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 179,271 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,956,000 after buying an additional 34,678 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Block during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,383,000. New York Life Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Block during the 3rd quarter valued at $5,400,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Block by 2,385.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 612,358 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $44,255,000 after acquiring an additional 587,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Investment Management Co. bought a new position in Block in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,323,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.