Piper Sandler Cuts Block (NYSE:XYZ) Price Target to $85.00

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its target price trimmed by Piper Sandler from $101.00 to $85.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Macquarie increased their price objective 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. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Block from $112.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Block from $109.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Block from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Block in a report on Saturday, February 15th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.31.

Block Stock Up 3.9 %

Shares of NYSE:XYZ opened at $65.29 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Block has a 52 week low of $55.00 and a 52 week high of $99.26. The company has a market capitalization of $40.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.35, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.53.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.23 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Block will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 2,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.72, for a total transaction of $177,255.68. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 83,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,281,531.52. This trade 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 is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,502 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.52, for a total transaction of $129,953.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 242,199 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,955,057.48. This represents a 0.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,832 shares of company stock valued at $1,921,288 over the last ninety days. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Block by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,651,886 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $110,891,000 after buying an additional 8,200 shares during the period. National Pension Service increased its holdings in Block by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,083,113 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $72,709,000 after buying an additional 128,832 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Block in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,315,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its holdings in Block by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,233,102 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $686,948,000 after buying an additional 147,873 shares during the period. Finally, Perpetual Ltd bought a new position in Block in the 4th quarter valued at about $10,779,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.