StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Hits New 52-Week Low on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday after Susquehanna lowered their price target on the stock from $22.00 to $19.00. Susquehanna currently has a positive rating on the stock. StoneCo traded as low as $10.16 and last traded at $10.24, with a volume of 745167 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.48.

STNE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays cut their target price on StoneCo from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $7.00 target price (down previously from $16.50) on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised StoneCo to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of StoneCo from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.40.

Institutional Trading of StoneCo

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in StoneCo during the first quarter worth approximately $41,000. Central Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo during the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 90.2% in the 2nd quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 4,798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 2,275 shares during the period. Invst LLC purchased a new stake in StoneCo in the 1st quarter valued at $172,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd purchased a new stake in StoneCo in the 3rd quarter valued at $125,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

StoneCo Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.36. The company has a market capitalization of $3.16 billion, a PE ratio of 8.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.29. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.81.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $615.13 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $590.74 million. StoneCo had a return on equity of 13.69% and a net margin of 16.02%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current year.

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.