JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda. Buys 3,707,941 Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)

Key Points

• JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda. significantly increased its stake in StoneCo Ltd. by 484.8% in Q1, owning 4,472,738 shares, which now comprise 36.1% of its portfolio.
• Multiple institutional investors, including GAMMA Investing LLC and CWM LLC, have also raised their positions in StoneCo, reflecting a growing interest with institutional ownership now at 73.19%.
• StoneCo reported Q1 earnings of $0.34 per share, exceeding analysts' estimates, while projecting a consensus EPS of 1.16 for the current fiscal year.

JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda. increased its stake in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) by 484.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,472,738 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,707,941 shares during the quarter. StoneCo makes up 36.1% of JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda.'s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda. owned about 1.56% of StoneCo worth $46,874,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in StoneCo by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,708 shares of the company's stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 924 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. increased its stake in shares of StoneCo by 4.7% in the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 21,762 shares of the company's stock worth $228,000 after acquiring an additional 981 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in StoneCo by 18.4% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,473 shares of the company's stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 1,317 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC increased its position in StoneCo by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 176,900 shares of the company's stock worth $1,410,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its holdings in StoneCo by 327.4% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,154 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 2,416 shares in the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StoneCo Trading Up 4.4%

NASDAQ STNE traded up $0.57 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $13.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,568,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,515,014. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $14.45 and a 200 day moving average of $12.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.19, a PEG ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.88. StoneCo Ltd. has a twelve month low of $7.72 and a twelve month high of $16.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. StoneCo had a positive return on equity of 16.65% and a negative net margin of 8.90%. The company had revenue of $625.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.68 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on STNE. Citigroup upgraded 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. Wall Street Zen cut shares of StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Santander upgraded shares of StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Barclays increased their target price on StoneCo from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on StoneCo from $15.50 to $18.50 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $15.07.

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.