Azora Capital LP Buys 355,192 Shares of StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

Key Points

• Azora Capital LP has increased its stake in StoneCo Ltd. by 15.9% during the 1st quarter, bringing its total holding to approximately $27.08 million in stock.
• Institutional investors own about 73.19% of StoneCo's stock, indicating significant institutional interest in the company.
• Analysts have a mixed outlook on StoneCo, with ratings ranging from strong buy to sell, and a consensus price target of $14.58.

Azora Capital LP raised its stake in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) by 15.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,583,510 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 355,192 shares during the quarter. StoneCo makes up 1.8% of Azora Capital LP's portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Azora Capital LP owned about 0.90% of StoneCo worth $27,075,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 13,956,554 shares of the company's stock valued at $111,234,000 after acquiring an additional 2,534,079 shares during the period. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. lifted its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 46.8% during the fourth quarter. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 13,951,183 shares of the company's stock valued at $111,191,000 after acquiring an additional 4,446,709 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 40.3% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,993,611 shares of the company's stock valued at $55,739,000 after acquiring an additional 2,008,710 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of StoneCo during the first quarter valued at $70,502,000. Finally, JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda. raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 484.8% in the first quarter. JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda. now owns 4,472,738 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,874,000 after buying an additional 3,707,941 shares during the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on STNE shares. Zacks Research raised StoneCo to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. UBS Group lifted their price target on StoneCo from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Wall Street Zen cut StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Barclays lifted their price objective on StoneCo from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on StoneCo from $15.50 to $18.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, StoneCo currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $15.36.

StoneCo Stock Up 0.4%

NASDAQ STNE traded up $0.07 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $16.35. The stock had a trading volume of 975,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,937,474. The company has a market capitalization of $4.67 billion, a PE ratio of -23.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.91. The company's 50-day moving average price is $14.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.48. StoneCo Ltd. has a 12 month low of $7.72 and a 12 month high of $16.82.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $643.82 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.78 billion. StoneCo had a positive return on equity of 18.71% and a negative net margin of 8.37%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 EPS for the current year.

StoneCo 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.