Canaccord Genuity Group Has Lowered Expectations for Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock Price

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its target price cut by equities research analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group from $120.00 to $100.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. Canaccord Genuity Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 46.33% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Block from $100.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Block from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Block from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.23.

Block Trading Down 17.7 %

Block stock traded down $14.70 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $68.34. 36,611,358 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,776,163. 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 $42.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.39, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.52. Block has a fifty-two week low of $55.00 and a fifty-two week high of $99.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released 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). Block had a return on equity of 5.24% and a net margin of 4.73%. The company had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.23 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Block will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,502 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.52, for a total value of $129,953.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 242,199 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,955,057.48. This represents a 0.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,865 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $272,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 85,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,097,325. This represents a 3.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,247 shares of company stock worth $832,865 in the last ninety days. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in XYZ. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 3rd quarter valued at $114,121,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Block by 770.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,738,708 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $116,719,000 after buying an additional 1,538,849 shares in the last quarter. Woodson Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,255,000. Azora Capital LP raised its stake in shares of Block by 358.4% in the 3rd quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 503,402 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,793,000 after buying an additional 393,593 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Graypoint LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 4th quarter worth about $32,445,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.