StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts rate StoneCo “Hold” on average: Six of ten analysts recommend holding the stock, while four recommend buying it. The average 12-month price target is $14.30.
• Recent analyst actions were mixed, including UBS lowering its target to $13 while maintaining a buy rating and Bank of America downgrading the stock to neutral.
• StoneCo shares opened at $9.28, near their 52-week low of $9.04, while institutional investors own 73.19% of the company. The company’s latest quarterly EPS of $0.47 slightly exceeded expectations.

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the ten ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $14.30.

STNE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. They set a "hold" rating and a $12.60 target price for the company. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of StoneCo from $15.00 to $13.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 28th. Bank of America downgraded shares of StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $13.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of StoneCo in a report on Monday, September 14th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Silvio Morais sold 21,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.91, for a total transaction of $208,110.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Institutional Trading of StoneCo

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of STNE. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in StoneCo by 151.7% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,032,572 shares of the company's stock worth $85,180,000 after purchasing an additional 3,636,276 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in StoneCo by 1,288.4% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 577,959 shares of the company's stock worth $6,265,000 after purchasing an additional 536,331 shares during the period. Andra AP fonden increased its stake in StoneCo by 159.5% during the second quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 1,593,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $17,275,000 after purchasing an additional 979,400 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in StoneCo by 286.6% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 163,065 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,298,000 after purchasing an additional 120,883 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 435.5% during the first quarter. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 6,662,253 shares of the company's stock worth $94,071,000 after purchasing an additional 5,418,053 shares during the period. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

StoneCo Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of StoneCo stock opened at $9.28 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $10.09 and a 200-day moving average of $11.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a PE ratio of 3.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.75. StoneCo has a 1-year low of $9.04 and a 1-year high of $19.95.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. StoneCo had a return on equity of 22.19% and a net margin of 22.92%.The business had revenue of $129.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $708.24 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that StoneCo will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About StoneCo

StoneCo Ltd. is a financial technology company serving businesses and consumers in Brazil. Through its Stone and Ton brands, the company provides electronic payment processing and point-of-sale solutions, including card acceptance, digital payments, payment links and related tools for merchants of varying sizes.

StoneCo also offers financial services designed to support small and medium-sized businesses, such as digital banking, working-capital products and other business management tools.

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