443,727 StoneCo Ltd. $STNE Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management cut its StoneCo stake by 76.8% in the third quarter, selling 443,727 shares and retaining 134,232 shares valued at approximately $1.25 million.
• Institutional investors collectively own 73.19% of StoneCo, while several smaller investment firms increased their positions during recent quarters.
• Analysts’ consensus rating is “Hold,” with an average price target of $14.30. StoneCo shares opened at $11.15, and the company recently exceeded quarterly EPS expectations by $0.01.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lessened its holdings in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) by 76.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 134,232 shares of the company's stock after selling 443,727 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.05% of StoneCo worth $1,254,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in StoneCo by 74.1% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,199 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 936 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in StoneCo by 77.4% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,705 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in StoneCo by 54.4% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,032 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,068 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in StoneCo by 274.1% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 3,184 shares of the company's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 2,333 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in StoneCo in the 1st quarter worth approximately $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.19% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on STNE shares. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of StoneCo in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. They set a "hold" rating and a $12.60 price objective for the company. Bank of America downgraded shares of StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $13.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of StoneCo from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $14.30.

Insider Activity at StoneCo

In other news, Director Silvio Morais sold 21,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.91, for a total value of $208,110.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 11.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

StoneCo Stock Performance

NASDAQ:STNE opened at $11.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. StoneCo Ltd. has a 1 year low of $8.95 and a 1 year high of $19.64. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $10.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.04. The company has a market cap of $2.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.50, a PEG ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.68.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (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 anticipate that StoneCo Ltd. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StoneCo Company Profile

StoneCo Ltd. is a financial technology company that provides payment processing and business-management solutions primarily to small and medium-sized businesses in Brazil. Through its Stone brand, the company enables merchants to accept payments in physical stores and online, including card, digital-wallet and other electronic transactions.

Its products and services include point-of-sale terminals, payment gateways, transaction processing, digital banking and financial-account services, as well as working-capital and other credit solutions for eligible merchants.

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