Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock Rating Upgraded by Morgan Stanley

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was upgraded by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report issued on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm currently has a $67.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 15.54% from the company’s current price.

XYZ has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Oppenheimer raised shares of Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Block from $101.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Block from $108.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Block from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Block from $112.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.46.

Block Stock Up 4.7 %

Shares of Block stock opened at $57.99 on Thursday. Block has a fifty-two week low of $52.25 and a fifty-two week high of $99.26. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.66. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $35.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.75, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.78.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its earnings results 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). Block had a return on equity of 5.80% and a net margin of 11.92%. The business had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.23 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,345 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total value of $446,180.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 235,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,585,253.28. This trade represents a 2.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,467 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $103,159.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 82,499 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,801,329.68. This represents a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,585 shares of company stock valued at $1,088,423 over the last three months. 10.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Block by 67.7% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 394 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in shares of Block by 48.2% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 418 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its position in shares of Block by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 982 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Block by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $139,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the period. Finally, Ulland Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 92.3% in the fourth quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,135 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,025 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.