Cathie Wood’s Ark Dumps Block Stock Worth $4.8 Million As Bitcoin-Heavy Company Preps Q2 Results – ARK Innovation ETF (BATS:ARKK)

Cathie Wood-led Ark Invest executed a significant trade in Block Inc. XYZ on Tuesday. The move comes just days before the company’s much-anticipated second-quarter earnings, due on Thursday, and following its high-profile addition to the S&P 500. The move comes amid renewed excitement around Block’s innovative product launches and its growing presence in both the fintech and crypto sectors.

The Block Inc. Trade

Ark Invest’s decision to sell shares of the Jack Dorsey-led company stands out during a week marked by volatility and anticipation in the fintech space.

The company’s latest headline-grabbing innovation, Bitchat—a Bluetooth-based, decentralized messaging application—recently broke into the top 200 of Apple’s Business App Store charts, further elevating Block’s profile. This milestone coincided with the firm’s formal entry into the S&P 500 on July 23, a catalyst that propelled Block’s shares more than 8% higher and solidified its growing role in the payment and Bitcoin infrastructure arena.

Analysts have lauded Block’s ongoing push into crypto, citing its policy of allocating 10% of all Bitcoin BTC/USD-related gross profit to further BTC purchases. Despite recent stock sales by founders and executives, sentiment has remained bullish ahead of Block’s earnings, with several research houses raising price targets in anticipation of continued margin growth and technological innovation. The estimated earnings per share for Block are $0.6,8 and the estimated revenue is $6.25 billion, according to data from Benzinga Pro. In May, the first-quarter results led to a decline in share price with earnings of $0.56 per share, which missed the $0.87 analyst consensus estimate. Ark has been reducing exposure to Block in recent days, at the end of July, Ark sold $1.5 million worth of stock.

Ark sold 63,504 shares of Block through its flagship ARK Innovation ETF ARKK on Tuesday. The transaction was valued at $4.8 million. The company’s shares closed nearly 1.1% lower at $75.29 for the day.

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Other Key Trades:

• Ark added 137,507 shares of Twist Bioscience Corp. (TWST) through ARKK and 16,787 via ARKG..
• Purchased CRISPR Therapeutics AG (CRSP), increasing its holding by 181,295 shares in ARKK.
• Acquired 288,331 shares of Aurora Innovation Inc. (AUR) through AKRQ.
• Added 90,338 shares of Intuitive Machines Inc. (LUNR) through ARKQ and 54,337 through ARKX.
• Sold 158,152 shares of Blade Air Mobility Inc. (BLDE) through ARKQ and 101,467 shares through ARKX.

Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate Block stock checks out on Short, Medium and Long price trends. Here is how the Bitcoin-focused stock fares on other metrics.

This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Shivdeep Dhaliwal