Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Has Lowered Expectations for Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock Price

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its target price lowered by equities researchers at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $100.00 to $87.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the technology company’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 27.30% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Block from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Block in a report on Saturday, February 15th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Oppenheimer raised shares of Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Block from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.23.

Block Stock Down 17.7 %

Shares of NYSE:XYZ opened at $68.34 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $42.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.02, a PEG ratio of 0.72 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 2.07.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.11). Block had a return on equity of 5.80% and a net margin of 11.92%. The company had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.23 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,502 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.52, for a total value of $129,953.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 242,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,955,057.48. This represents a 0.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 2,044 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.72, for a total value of $177,255.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 83,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,281,531.52. The trade was a 2.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,247 shares of company stock valued at $832,865 in the last three months. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its position in Block by 183.8% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 9,154 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $778,000 after purchasing an additional 5,929 shares in the last quarter. Guerra Pan Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 4th quarter worth about $211,000. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC acquired a new position in Block during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,775,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp lifted its stake in Block by 18,150.0% in the fourth quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 7,300 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $620,000 after buying an additional 7,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nepsis Inc. purchased a new stake in Block in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,769,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently 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.