Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Lowers Block (NYSE:XYZ) Price Target to $87.00

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its target price trimmed by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $100.00 to $87.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Block from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Block from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Block has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.23.

Block Price Performance

Shares of XYZ stock opened at $68.34 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $42.36 billion, a PE ratio of 38.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.52. Block has a 12-month low of $55.00 and a 12-month high of $99.26. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.23 billion. Block had a return on equity of 5.24% and a net margin of 4.73%. Sell-side analysts expect that Block will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 2,044 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.72, for a total value of $177,255.68. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 83,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,281,531.52. This trade represents a 2.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,865 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $272,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 85,235 shares in the company, valued at $8,097,325. This trade represents a 3.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,247 shares of company stock worth $832,865 over the last quarter. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in XYZ. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Block in the 3rd quarter worth $114,121,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Block by 770.0% in the 3rd 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 period. Woodson Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Block in the 3rd quarter worth $27,255,000. Azora Capital LP raised its position in shares of Block by 358.4% in the 3rd quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 503,402 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,793,000 after buying an additional 393,593 shares during the period. Finally, Graypoint LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block in the 4th quarter worth $32,445,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.