Block (NYSE:XYZ) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.11 EPS

Block (NYSE:XYZ) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The technology company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.11), Zacks reports. Block had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 5.24%.

Block Price Performance

XYZ stock traded down $0.82 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $83.07. The stock had a trading volume of 11,976,022 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,908,623. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 2.52. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $89.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.13. Block has a 52 week low of $55.00 and a 52 week high of $99.26.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on XYZ. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Block from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Macquarie boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Block in a report on Saturday, February 15th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 2,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.72, for a total value of $177,255.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 83,966 shares in the company, 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,502 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.52, for a total transaction of $129,953.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 242,199 shares in the company, valued at $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 a total of 9,247 shares of company stock worth $832,865 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 10.49% 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.