KeyCorp Has Lowered Expectations for Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock Price

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its price objective lowered by KeyCorp from $115.00 to $85.00 in a research report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

XYZ has been the subject of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Block from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Block from $112.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Finally, Macquarie restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.41.

Block Stock Down 0.2 %

XYZ stock opened at $61.26 on Tuesday. Block has a 52 week low of $53.54 and a 52 week high of $99.26. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.43. The company has a market capitalization of $37.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.78.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.11). Block had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 5.80%. The business had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.23 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Block will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 2,836 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.38, for a total transaction of $253,481.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 195,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,469,231.62. The trade was a 1.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,467 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $103,159.44. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 82,499 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,801,329.68. This trade represents a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,967 shares of company stock worth $1,649,113 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Block by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,690,075 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $581,923,000 after purchasing an additional 133,002 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Block by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,202,388 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $147,846,000 after acquiring an additional 45,472 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,538,849 shares in the last quarter. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the third quarter worth $114,121,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Block by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,651,886 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $110,891,000 after buying an additional 8,200 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.