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Cathie Wood's Ark Invest has bought about $37.4 million worth of Block Inc. shares after the Jack Dorsey-led fintech company fell nearly 2% in Monday trading, while also adding Circle shares in its latest buying spree.
456,059 Block Shares Across Three ETFs
Ark Invest purchased 456,059 Block shares across three of its actively managed ETFs: the Ark Innovation ETF, Ark Next Generation Internet ETF and Ark Blockchain & Fintech Innovation ETF. Block closed Monday at $82.02, down 1.85% for the session. Ark's latest purchase extends a series of investments in Block this year, including acquisitions made during earlier periods of weakness in the company's stock. The investment manager regularly adjusts positions as stock prices move, buying and selling shares to maintain desired portfolio weights. Under its strategy, a single company generally cannot account for more than 10% of a fund's portfolio.
Block Raised 2026 Profit Outlook
Block reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter results in August, with gross profit rising 25% from a year earlier to $3.17 billion. Cash App accounted for $1.97 billion of gross profit, up 31% year over year, while Square generated $1.16 billion, an increase of 13%. Adjusted operating income reached $864 million, representing a 27% margin. Following the results, Block raised its full-year gross profit forecast to $12.51 billion, representing expected growth of 21% from 2025. The previous forecast stood at $12.33 billion, or 19% growth. Block has continued investing in artificial intelligence after reducing its workforce by roughly 40% in February, with agentic AI helping write and review nearly all production code changes during June.
Ark Buys More Circle Shares
Ark's Monday trades extended beyond Block, with the investment manager buying another 35,192 shares of stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group. The Circle purchase was worth roughly $3.36 million based on Monday's closing price of $95.55. Unlike Block, Circle finished the session sharply higher, gaining 9.65% after falling 7.5% on Friday. The purchase continues Ark's accumulation of Circle shares during 2026, including a July purchase of 220,012 shares worth approximately $13.9 million after CRCL fell below $64, and another 109,129 shares worth approximately $6.83 million after Circle received a limited-purpose trust charter from the New York Department of Financial Services. Circle's shares have since recovered, gaining 52.6% over the past month.
Bernstein Maintains Outperform on Circle
Bernstein maintained an Outperform rating on Circle last week and set a $140 price target. The brokerage cited USDC adoption across stablecoin payments, blockchain-based capital markets and emerging agentic payment applications among the areas supporting its outlook. Bernstein said USDC supply had increased by about $1.7 billion during the preceding week following nearly six months of mostly flat growth. Adjusted stablecoin transaction volume was running at an annualized pace of roughly $17 trillion through July, compared with roughly $11 trillion during 2025. Block has continued expanding its Bitcoin exposure alongside its payments and AI businesses, increasing its Bitcoin treasury by 85 BTC to 9,117 BTC in August, placing it 15th among publicly tracked corporate Bitcoin holders.