StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Stock Position Raised by JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda.

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. raised its holdings in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) by 484.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,472,738 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,707,941 shares during the period. StoneCo accounts for about 36.1% of JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda.'s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda. owned 1.56% of StoneCo worth $46,874,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of STNE. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in StoneCo by 327.4% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,154 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 2,416 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its stake in StoneCo by 627.0% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 4,551 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 3,925 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in StoneCo by 13.6% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,708 shares of the company's stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 924 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.19% of the company's stock.

StoneCo Stock Up 7.1%

Shares of STNE stock traded up $0.97 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $14.47. 9,140,505 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,094,949. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $14.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.26. StoneCo Ltd. has a 12-month low of $7.72 and a 12-month high of $16.68. The stock has a market cap of $4.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.57, a PEG ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.88. 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 released 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 negative net margin of 8.90% and a positive return on equity of 16.65%. The firm had revenue of $625.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.68 billion. On average, analysts expect that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on STNE shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Barclays upped their target price on StoneCo from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on StoneCo from $15.50 to $18.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Citigroup raised StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $9.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Santander raised StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $15.07.

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.