StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $14.50.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on STNE shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of StoneCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of StoneCo from $5.70 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $9.00 target price (down from $19.00) on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, January 16th.

StoneCo Stock Performance

Shares of StoneCo stock opened at $10.73 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a PE ratio of 8.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.33. 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 52 week low of $7.72 and a 52 week high of $17.93. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $9.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.90.

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

Institutional Trading of StoneCo

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STNE. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of StoneCo by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 13,956,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,234,000 after buying an additional 2,534,079 shares during the period. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. increased its holdings in StoneCo by 46.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 4,446,709 shares during the period. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. increased its holdings in StoneCo by 23.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,173,389 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of StoneCo by 40.3% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,993,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,739,000 after purchasing an additional 2,008,710 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

StoneCo Company Profile

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.