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

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

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on XYZ. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on Block from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup lowered their target price on Block from $108.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $87.00 to $80.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.46.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:XYZ opened at $50.17 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.08 billion, a PE ratio of 11.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.77. The business has a 50-day moving average of $69.53. Block has a fifty-two week low of $47.69 and a fifty-two week high of $99.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted 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 company had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.23 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,345 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $446,180.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 235,854 shares in the company, valued at $16,585,253.28. This represents a 2.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were 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 owns 81,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,467,305.52. This trade represents a 0.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 19,324 shares of company stock worth $1,297,662. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Block by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,690,075 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $581,923,000 after purchasing an additional 133,002 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,445,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Block by 391.0% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 292,571 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $24,866,000 after buying an additional 232,989 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Block by 6.2% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 253,787 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $17,037,000 after buying an additional 14,822 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Block by 3.9% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 227,325 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $15,260,000 after acquiring an additional 8,486 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Company Profile

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.