Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Grows Holdings in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) by 1,289.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,520,192 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,410,813 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.49% of StoneCo worth $15,932,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo in the first quarter valued at approximately $597,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 2,720 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 2,715 shares during the period. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new position in StoneCo in the fourth quarter worth approximately $367,000. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new position in StoneCo in the fourth quarter worth approximately $106,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on STNE. Wall Street Zen cut shares of StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of StoneCo from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Citigroup upgraded shares of StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $9.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of StoneCo from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Santander upgraded shares of StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, StoneCo presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $15.63.

StoneCo Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of StoneCo stock traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $13.76. The company had a trading volume of 5,043,240 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,806,908. The company's 50-day moving average is $13.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.64. StoneCo Ltd. has a twelve month low of $7.72 and a twelve month high of $15.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.92.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. StoneCo had a net margin of 16.02% and a return on equity of 13.92%. The business had revenue of $625.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.68 billion. Analysts anticipate that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.