Entropy Technologies LP Makes New Investment in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)

Key Points

• Entropy Technologies LP acquired 77,002 shares of StoneCo Ltd., valued at approximately $807,000, marking a significant investment in the company's stock.
• StoneCo reported earnings of $0.39 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.36.
• Multiple hedge funds increased their stakes in StoneCo, with institutional investors owning 73.19% of the company's stock, highlighting strong investor confidence.

Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 77,002 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $807,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. raised its stake in StoneCo by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 11,623,836 shares of the company's stock worth $92,642,000 after buying an additional 2,173,389 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in StoneCo by 40.3% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,993,611 shares of the company's stock worth $55,739,000 after buying an additional 2,008,710 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in StoneCo by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,419,797 shares of the company's stock worth $43,120,000 after buying an additional 229,453 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STNE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup raised shares of StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $9.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays lifted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of StoneCo from $15.50 to $18.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Zacks Research raised shares of StoneCo to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, StoneCo presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $15.07.

StoneCo Stock Performance

NASDAQ:STNE traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $15.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,765,519 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,285,554. StoneCo Ltd. has a 1 year low of $7.72 and a 1 year high of $16.68. 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 has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.26, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.88. The business's fifty day moving average is $14.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.55.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last posted 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%. Analysts anticipate that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal 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.