The shares of the Block payment service are attractive to institutional investors

Large investment funds expanded their holdings in Block Inc. (SQ), a payment provider, in the first quarter. The overall acceleration of digital trends in the industry is most likely one of the drivers of interest. In a recent report, Coatue Management, a technology, media, and telecom investment firm, revealed that it increased its interest in Block in the first quarter. As a result, the fund currently holds 5.9 million shares, up from 2.72 million in the fourth quarter of last year. Hedge funds boosted their holdings in Block by 280,000 to over 3 million shares at the end of the first quarter.

Tiger Global, another prominent hedge fund, boosted its holding in Block from 1.4 million to 2.74 million shares. This year, Block shares (previously known as Square) “took part” in the indexes’ decline, losing about half of their value since the start of the year. The company’s quotations were bolstered by information regarding the expanding number of institutional investors; they gained around 15% over the week. Block just announced its first-quarter earnings, which were a little lower than what analysts had expected but showed great growth in business segments like Cash App.

The company’s sales dropped to $3.95 billion from more than $5 billion in the same period last year. The deficit in the first quarter was $204 million, or $0.38 per share, compared to a profit of $0.08 per share a year ago in the same period. Block’s management also gave its predictions for the second quarter. They said that the company would make $4.14 billion in sales and $0.2 per share in profit.