Morgan Stanley Increases StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Price Target to $6.00

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) had its price objective lifted by Morgan Stanley from $5.70 to $6.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the stock.

STNE has been the subject of a number of other reports. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $9.00 price objective (down from $19.00) on shares of StoneCo in a report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of StoneCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.50.

StoneCo Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of StoneCo stock opened at $11.10 on Friday. StoneCo has a 1 year low of $7.72 and a 1 year high of $17.93. The firm has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a PE ratio of 8.67, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.96.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in StoneCo by 254.7% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 3,056 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in StoneCo by 627.0% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 4,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 3,925 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in StoneCo by 166.7% during the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in StoneCo during the 4th quarter valued at $56,000. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its position in StoneCo by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 7,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the period. 73.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.