Block (NYSE:XYZ) Upgraded at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) from a strong sell rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

XYZ has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Block from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Block from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Rosenblatt Securities set a $100.00 price objective on Block in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.64.

Block Stock Down 1.9%

XYZ stock opened at $80.00 on Thursday. Block has a 52-week low of $48.21 and a 52-week high of $84.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 2.54. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.62.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.55. The company had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter. Block had a return on equity of 7.02% and a net margin of 3.30%.Block’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. Block has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.860-0.860 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.850-3.850 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Block will post 2.48 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 30,919 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $2,318,925.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 500,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,561,200. The trade was a 5.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 43,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $3,467,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 557,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,612,320. This represents a 7.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 357,219 shares of company stock worth $27,286,681. 11.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Block by 57.1% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 443 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Block by 301.0% during the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 389 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Block during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Rachor Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Block during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Block by 57.6% in the fourth quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 610 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

About Block

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.