Block (NYSE:XYZ) Upgraded at Rothschild & Co Redburn

Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $55.00 target price on the technology company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $45.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Block from $55.00 to $51.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Compass Point upgraded Block from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Block from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 2nd. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Block from $105.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.14.

Block Stock Performance

NYSE:XYZ opened at $59.25 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.00 billion, a PE ratio of 28.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 2.65. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Block has a 12-month low of $44.27 and a 12-month high of $82.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $59.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.68.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $6.25 billion for the quarter. Block had a return on equity of 6.66% and a net margin of 5.40%.The business’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other Block news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total value of $225,422.55. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 231,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,664,323.42. This trade represents a 1.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 10,349 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $517,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 503,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,189,200. The trade was a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 20,352 shares of company stock valued at $1,165,720 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in XYZ. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Block by 23.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,626,485 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,887,366,000 after acquiring an additional 12,709,824 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Block by 41.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 16,023,441 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,042,966,000 after purchasing an additional 4,727,217 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Block by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,406,899 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $934,121,000 after purchasing an additional 67,560 shares in the last quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Block by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 11,603,057 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $838,553,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262,317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dragoneer Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $627,233,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by 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.