KeyCorp Lowers Block (NYSE:XYZ) Price Target to $85.00

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its target price reduced by investment analysts at KeyCorp from $115.00 to $85.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the technology company’s stock. KeyCorp’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 38.30% from the stock’s previous close.

XYZ has been the subject of several other reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on Block from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Raymond James lowered their price target on Block from $115.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.41.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of Block stock opened at $61.46 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.78. Block has a fifty-two week low of $53.54 and a fifty-two week 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. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.68.

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

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,467 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $103,159.44. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 82,499 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,801,329.68. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 3,253 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total value of $221,236.53. Following the sale, the insider now owns 548,597 shares in the company, valued at $37,310,081.97. This trade represents a 0.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,967 shares of company stock worth $1,649,113. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its holdings 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 4th quarter worth approximately $211,000. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,775,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp boosted its stake in shares of Block by 18,150.0% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Nepsis Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,769,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

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.