CHICAGO TRUST Co NA Makes New $302,000 Investment in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

CHICAGO TRUST Co NA acquired a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,550 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $302,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Block during the second quarter worth $443,000. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Block by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 526,501 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,954,000 after purchasing an additional 48,107 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Block by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 196,456 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,669,000 after purchasing an additional 3,479 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Block by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 266,067 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $17,159,000 after purchasing an additional 13,649 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its position in Block by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 15,531 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 984 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on SQ. Oppenheimer raised Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. BNP Paribas lowered Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Block from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Block in a report on Friday, November 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Block currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.77.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SQ opened at $82.15 on Tuesday. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.00 and a fifty-two week high of $99.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07. The company has a market cap of $50.92 billion, a PE ratio of 46.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 2.51. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $88.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,502 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was 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 directly owns 242,199 shares in the company, valued at $20,955,057.48. This trade represents a 0.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,865 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 85,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,097,325. The trade was a 3.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,981 shares of company stock worth $2,681,185 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 10.49% 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.