The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts Block (NYSE:XYZ) Price Target to $74.00

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its target price trimmed by The Goldman Sachs Group from $94.00 to $74.00 in a report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on XYZ. Morgan Stanley upgraded Block from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Block from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Block from $98.00 to $97.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.46.

Block Price Performance

Shares of XYZ stock opened at $50.17 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $69.53. The firm has a market cap of $31.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.77. Block has a 1-year low of $47.69 and a 1-year high of $99.26. 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 (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.23 billion. Block had a return on equity of 5.80% and a net margin of 11.92%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.48, for a total value of $27,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 81,999 shares in the company, valued at $4,467,305.52. This represents a 0.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 1,263 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.19, for a total value of $70,967.97. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 181,904 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,221,185.76. This trade represents a 0.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,324 shares of company stock worth $1,297,662 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Block by 67.7% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 394 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its stake in shares of Block by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 982 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew 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 valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ulland Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Block by 92.3% in the fourth quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,135 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $181,000 after buying an additional 1,025 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is 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.