Shares of Block Inc (NYSE:SQ) are trading higher today after KeyBanc Capital Markets maintained its overweight rating for Block, and raised its price target from $175 to $180 a share, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
“Block is well-positioned to benefit from a shifting FinTech industry landscape that favors two-sided ecosystem synergies, BNPL-driven commerce, SuperApps, and crypto optionality, thus we continue to recommend SQ as a key idea,” Keybanc said in its note.
Why It Matters: Block shares opened at around $137 a share, before rising to more than $141 a share, good for a 6% increase. Block, formerly Square, runs and operates payment operating systems for thousands of small and medium businesses, and also owns CashApp. CashApp is a popular money-transfer service provider and Venmo’s biggest competitor.
Block, like its peer Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL), were high-flying stocks through the post-COVID rally, but have since given up a lot of their gains. Block reached highs of nearly $290 in the fall of 2021, before crashing all the way down to $83 a share.
Since reaching its lows of around $83 a share, Block’s stock has bounced back more than 40% to the $140 level it is trading at today. If Block does reach Keybanc’s price target of $180 a share, it will be good for about a 30% increase from today’s price.
