William Blair Issues Negative Forecast for Block Earnings

Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) – Stock analysts at William Blair decreased their Q1 2026 earnings estimates for Block in a report released on Wednesday, November 19th. William Blair analyst A. Jeffrey now forecasts that the technology company will earn $0.31 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $0.34. The consensus estimate for Block’s current full-year earnings is $2.54 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Block’s Q2 2026 earnings at $0.42 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $1.70 EPS.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on XYZ. BNP Paribas Exane lowered Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $86.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Block from $96.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 7th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Macquarie upped their target price on shares of Block from $50.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.33.

Block Price Performance

NYSE:XYZ opened at $61.98 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $73.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.16. Block has a 12 month low of $44.27 and a 12 month high of $99.26. The firm has a market cap of $37.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 2.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $6.11 billion during the quarter. Block had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 7.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.53 EPS.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.22, for a total transaction of $54,165.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 103,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,480,403.16. The trade was a 0.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $2,811,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 535,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,871,680. This represents a 6.15% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 61,360 shares of company stock worth $4,799,162 in the last quarter. 10.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC acquired a new position in Block in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. City Holding Co. purchased a new stake in Block in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

About Block

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.