Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Buy Rating for Block (NYSE:XYZ)

Block (NYSE:XYZ)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $90.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 8.34% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on XYZ. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Block from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Block from $100.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Block from $87.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.40.

Block Stock Down 1.0 %

XYZ opened at $83.07 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $51.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.52. Block has a 52 week low of $55.00 and a 52 week high of $99.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.11). Block had a return on equity of 5.24% and a net margin of 4.73%. On average, equities analysts expect that Block will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,865 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 85,235 shares in the company, valued at $8,097,325. This trade represents a 3.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $253,481.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 195,449 shares in the company, valued at $17,469,231.62. This represents a 1.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,247 shares of company stock valued at $832,865 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in Block by 1.5% during the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,233,102 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $686,948,000 after acquiring an additional 147,873 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Block by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,690,075 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $581,923,000 after acquiring an additional 133,002 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Block by 2.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,202,388 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $147,846,000 after purchasing an additional 45,472 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Block by 770.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,738,708 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $116,719,000 after purchasing an additional 1,538,849 shares during the period. Finally, Southpoint Capital Advisors LP bought a new position in Block during the third quarter worth about $114,121,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently 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.