StoneCo Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:STNE)

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders purchased 8,575 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 41% compared to the typical volume of 6,092 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on STNE shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $9.00 price objective (down from $19.00) on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of StoneCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of StoneCo from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.38.

StoneCo Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:STNE opened at $11.38 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. StoneCo has a fifty-two week low of $7.72 and a fifty-two week high of $17.93. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.97. The company has a market cap of $3.52 billion, a PE ratio of 8.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.33.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.07. StoneCo had a net margin of 16.02% and a return on equity of 13.92%. The business had revenue of $582.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.59 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that StoneCo will post 1.16 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of STNE. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. grew its position in StoneCo by 46.8% in the 4th quarter. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 13,951,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,191,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446,709 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in StoneCo by 36.2% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 11,422,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,617,000 after purchasing an additional 3,035,530 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in StoneCo in the 4th quarter worth about $22,642,000. State Street Corp grew its position in StoneCo by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,972,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,765,000 after purchasing an additional 2,692,558 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. grew its position in StoneCo by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 11,623,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,642,000 after purchasing an additional 2,173,389 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

About StoneCo

StoneCo Ltd. provides financial technology and software solutions to merchants and integrated partners to conduct electronic commerce across in-store, online, and mobile channels in Brazil. It distributes its solutions, principally through proprietary Stone Hubs, which offer hyper-local sales and services; and sells solutions to brick-and-mortar and digital merchants through sales team.