Block (NYSE:XYZ) Raised to “Equal Weight” at Morgan Stanley

Block (NYSE:XYZ) was upgraded by analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm currently has a $65.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential downside of 1.41% from the stock’s previous close.

XYZ has been the topic of several other research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on shares of Block from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Block from $101.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Macquarie upped their price target on shares of Block from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.31.

Block Price Performance

Shares of Block stock opened at $65.93 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.53. 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 52-week low of $55.00 and a 52-week high of $99.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.11). Block had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 5.80%. The firm had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.23 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Block news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 2,836 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.38, for a total transaction of $253,481.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 195,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,469,231.62. This trade represents a 1.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,865 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $272,175.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 85,235 shares in the company, valued at $8,097,325. The trade was a 3.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,247 shares of company stock valued at $832,865. 10.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swiss National Bank increased its position in Block by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,651,886 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $110,891,000 after buying an additional 8,200 shares during the period. National Pension Service increased its position in shares of Block by 13.5% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,083,113 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $72,709,000 after purchasing an additional 128,832 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Block in the fourth quarter worth $1,315,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in shares of Block by 1.5% in the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,233,102 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $686,948,000 after purchasing an additional 147,873 shares during the period. Finally, Perpetual Ltd bought a new position in shares of Block in the fourth quarter worth $10,779,000. 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.