CHICAGO TRUST Co NA Takes $619,000 Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

CHICAGO TRUST Co NA purchased a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 8,567 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $619,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,055,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,628,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $415,575,000. Korea Investment CORP bought a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $13,937,000. Finally, Shelton Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,562,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE XYZ opened at $65.33 on Monday. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $94.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $67.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.27. The company has a market capitalization of $39.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.17, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 2.65.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.29. Block had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 5.54%. The business had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $2,811,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 535,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,871,680. This represents a 6.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,959 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total value of $611,482.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 272,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,760,051. This represents a 3.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 92,617 shares of company stock valued at $6,474,580 in the last three months. Insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XYZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Compass Point raised Block from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Citigroup raised Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Truist Financial raised Block from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.42.

Block Company Profile

Block (NYSE:XYZ) is a financial technology company that builds products and services to facilitate electronic payments, commerce, and consumer finance. Its principal business lines include a seller-focused ecosystem that provides point-of-sale hardware and software, payment processing, invoicing, payroll and lending services, and a consumer-facing platform that offers peer-to-peer payments, banking-like features, and investing. Block’s portfolio also encompasses music streaming and buy-now-pay-later capabilities through businesses acquired to broaden its reach beyond core payments.

The company was founded as Square in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey and later rebranded to Block to reflect a diversified set of businesses across payments, consumer finance, and emerging technologies.