Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock Rating Upgraded by BMO Capital Markets

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was upgraded by equities research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $89.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $100.00. BMO Capital Markets’ target price points to a potential upside of 41.43% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on XYZ. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Block from $115.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on shares of Block from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.31.

Block Stock Down 4.5 %

Shares of XYZ opened at $62.93 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07. Block has a twelve month low of $55.00 and a twelve month high of $99.26. The company has a market capitalization of $39.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.83, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.53.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 2,044 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 83,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,281,531.52. This represents a 2.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,345 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $446,180.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 235,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,585,253.28. This trade represents a 2.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,832 shares of company stock valued at $1,921,288 over the last quarter. 10.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 183.8% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 9,154 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $778,000 after acquiring an additional 5,929 shares during the last quarter. Guerra Pan Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Block in the fourth quarter worth about $211,000. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC bought a new position in shares of Block in the fourth quarter worth about $3,775,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 18,150.0% in the fourth quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 7,300 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $620,000 after acquiring an additional 7,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nepsis Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Block in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,769,000. Institutional investors 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.