BRC Global BAH Investments Ltd. Makes New $84.50 Million Investment in StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

Key Points

• BRC Global BAH Investments Ltd. disclosed a new stake in StoneCo, buying 5.71 million shares valued at about $84.5 million. The position represents 100% of its portfolio and about 2% of StoneCo.
• Institutional interest in StoneCo remains strong, with hedge funds and other investors owning 73.19% of the stock. Several firms, including Pictet Asset Management and Coronation Fund Managers, also increased their holdings in recent quarters.
• Analysts currently view StoneCo with a Moderate Buy consensus and a target price of $20.00, even as some firms trimmed ratings or price targets. The company recently beat earnings expectations with $0.50 EPS and also paid a $2.53 per share special dividend.

BRC Global BAH Investments Ltd. bought a new position in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 5,713,391 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $84,501,000. StoneCo makes up 100.0% of BRC Global BAH Investments Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. BRC Global BAH Investments Ltd. owned approximately 2.00% of StoneCo at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 131.5% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 219,614 shares of the company's stock worth $3,248,000 after acquiring an additional 124,734 shares during the last quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 71.7% in the fourth quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 2,499,733 shares of the company's stock worth $36,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043,464 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo in the fourth quarter worth $3,546,000. Alta Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo in the third quarter worth $1,631,000. Finally, Jain Global LLC raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 381.1% in the third quarter. Jain Global LLC now owns 769,596 shares of the company's stock worth $14,553,000 after acquiring an additional 609,627 shares during the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STNE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Santander cut StoneCo from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group cut their price target on StoneCo from $19.50 to $19.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Zacks Research raised StoneCo from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $20.00.

StoneCo Stock Performance

StoneCo stock opened at $10.77 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.04, a PEG ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 1.73. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $13.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.44. StoneCo Ltd. has a 52 week low of $10.74 and a 52 week high of $19.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

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

StoneCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a special dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 24th were paid a dividend of $2.53 per share. The ex-dividend date was 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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