Block (NYSE:XYZ) Upgraded at Truist Financial
by Teresa Graham · The Cerbat GemTruist Financial upgraded shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ – Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. Truist Financial currently has $77.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $72.00.
XYZ has been the topic of a number of other reports. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Block to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a report on Monday, December 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $88.00 price objective on the stock. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Block currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.14.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on XYZ
Block Price Performance
Shares of XYZ opened at $59.25 on Wednesday. Block has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $82.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market cap of $36.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.21, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 2.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $59.92 and a 200-day moving average of $66.68.
Block (NYSE:XYZ – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.39. Block had a return on equity of 6.66% and a net margin of 5.40%.The business had revenue of $6.25 billion for the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.
Insider Activity at Block
In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,101 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total transaction of $70,441.98. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 271,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 10,349 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider owned 503,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,352 shares of company stock worth $1,165,720. Insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in XYZ. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,531,000. Creative Planning acquired a new position in Block in the second quarter worth about $5,334,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $542,000. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,701,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Block in the second quarter valued at $1,146,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.
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.