239,747 Shares in StoneCo Ltd. $STNE Bought by Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank

Key Points

• Zurcher Kantonalbank bought a new position of 239,747 shares of StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) in Q4, valued at about $3.55 million, representing roughly 0.08% of the company.
• Multiple institutions also moved stakes — notably Robeco increased to 2,515,851 shares (~$37.2M) and Sumitomo Mitsui added a new ~$7.11M position — leaving hedge funds and institutions owning 73.19% of the stock.
• Analysts have an average rating of “Moderate Buy” with an average target of $20.00, and StoneCo declared a special dividend of $2.53 payable May 4 (ex-dividend and record date April 24).

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank bought a new position in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 239,747 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,546,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank owned about 0.08% of StoneCo at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 508.4% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 39,616 shares of the company's stock worth $588,000 after purchasing an additional 33,104 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV acquired a new stake in StoneCo during the fourth quarter worth about $1,205,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in StoneCo by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,699 shares of the company's stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 860 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. acquired a new stake in StoneCo during the fourth quarter worth about $7,112,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in StoneCo by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,515,851 shares of the company's stock worth $37,209,000 after acquiring an additional 507,431 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.19% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on StoneCo from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. UBS Group dropped their target price on StoneCo from $19.50 to $19.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of StoneCo from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. BTIG Research reissued a "buy" rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of StoneCo in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Santander downgraded shares of StoneCo from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, StoneCo presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $20.00.

StoneCo Stock Performance

NASDAQ STNE opened at $12.22 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.99, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.89. StoneCo Ltd. has a twelve month low of $11.74 and a twelve month high of $19.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $14.76 and a 200 day moving average of $15.76.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $675.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $704.26 million. StoneCo had a return on equity of 21.55% and a net margin of 15.38%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StoneCo Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a special dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 4th. Investors of record on Friday, April 24th will be issued a $2.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 24th.

StoneCo Profile

StoneCo Ltd., commonly known as Stone, is a Brazilian financial technology company that provides integrated digital payment solutions and related financial services to merchants. Through its cloud-based platform, Stone enables businesses of all sizes to accept a variety of payment methods, including point-of-sale (POS) terminals, mobile card readers and e-commerce gateways. In addition to payment acceptance, the company offers value-added services such as working capital loans, digital banking products and automated billing tools designed to help merchants manage cash flow and streamline operations.

Since its founding in 2012 by André Street and Eduardo Pontes, Stone has focused on serving over half a million merchants across Brazil's retail, restaurant and services sectors.

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