Block (NYSE:XYZ) Price Target Lowered to $90.00 at Citigroup

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its price objective cut by equities research analysts at Citigroup from $108.00 to $90.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 58.81% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on XYZ. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Block from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Block from $112.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Block from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Block from $100.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Block has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.00.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of Block stock traded up $2.63 on Friday, reaching $56.67. 6,064,551 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,475,892. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.99. Block has a one year low of $53.54 and a one year high of $99.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07. The stock has a market cap of $35.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.45, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.78.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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. On average, equities research analysts expect that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 2,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.72, for a total transaction of $177,255.68. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 83,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,281,531.52. This trade represents a 2.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 2,836 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.38, for a total transaction of $253,481.68. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 195,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,469,231.62. The trade was a 1.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,967 shares of company stock valued at $1,649,113 in the last 90 days. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in XYZ. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Block in the third quarter worth approximately $114,121,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 770.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,738,708 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $116,719,000 after buying an additional 1,538,849 shares during the last quarter. Woodson Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Block during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,255,000. Azora Capital LP raised its stake in Block by 358.4% during the 3rd quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 503,402 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,793,000 after acquiring an additional 393,593 shares during the period. Finally, Graypoint LLC bought a new stake in Block during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,445,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

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.