Block (NYSE:XYZ) Upgraded at Truist Financial

Truist Financial upgraded shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports.

XYZ has been the subject of several other research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of Block from $75.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Block from $71.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Compass Point reissued a “sell” rating and set a $65.00 target price (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $94.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.36.

Block Stock Up 7.3%

Shares of XYZ opened at $61.83 on Monday. Block has a 52-week low of $44.27 and a 52-week high of $99.26. The company has a quick ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.22. The company has a market capitalization of $37.57 billion, a PE ratio of 12.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 2.73.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.29. Block had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 7.41%. The firm had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 750 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $60,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 102,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,184,640. The trade was a 0.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $2,811,600.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 535,896 shares in the company, valued at $42,871,680. This trade represents a 6.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 76,160 shares of company stock valued at $5,899,556. Insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. S Bank Fund Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $92,000. Praxis Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter worth $508,000. Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at $3,105,000. SilverOak Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Block in the second quarter valued at $218,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA acquired a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $94,000. 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.