Block (NYSE:XYZ) Upgraded at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Block from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Block from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $82.00 target price on shares of Block and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Block from $71.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.42.

Block Stock Up 1.3%

NYSE:XYZ opened at $79.56 on Thursday. Block has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $99.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $76.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 2.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.32 billion. Block had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 7.85%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 406 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total transaction of $30,356.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 126,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,481,284.62. This trade represents a 0.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,276 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.69, for a total transaction of $97,856.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 282,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,697,441.56. This trade represents a 0.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 123,041 shares of company stock valued at $9,355,075. 10.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,730,489,000. Sands Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Block in the second quarter worth $702,446,000. Geode Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Block in the second quarter worth $634,721,000. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in Block in the second quarter valued at $627,233,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth $535,305,000. 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.