Aberdeen Group plc Invests $227,000 in StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc has made a new investment in StoneCo Ltd., acquiring 21,707 shares valued at approximately $227,000.
• StoneCo's stock has garnered various analyst ratings, with targets ranging from $15.00 to $18.50, and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• The company reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.39 for the last quarter, exceeding expectations and generating revenue of $643.82 million.

Aberdeen Group plc purchased a new position in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 21,707 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in STNE. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 1,486.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,903 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 2,720 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 327.4% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,154 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 2,416 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 627.0% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 4,551 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 3,925 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 143.0% in the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,614 shares of the company's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 2,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 13.6% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,708 shares of the company's stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 924 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on STNE. Zacks Research upgraded shares of StoneCo to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $15.50 to $18.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Santander upgraded shares of StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $15.07.

StoneCo Stock Performance

STNE stock traded up $0.11 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $15.78. 1,265,663 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,982,154. The firm has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a P/E ratio of -22.55, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $14.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.84. StoneCo Ltd. has a 1-year low of $7.72 and a 1-year high of $16.68.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $643.82 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.78 billion. StoneCo had a negative net margin of 8.37% and a positive return on equity of 18.71%. On average, analysts expect that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current year.

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.