PDT Partners LLC Acquires New Stake in StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

Key Points

• PDT Partners LLC acquired 315,438 shares of StoneCo Ltd. valued at approximately $3.3 million, representing about 0.11% of the company at the end of the last quarter.
• StoneCo's stock has seen a 0.8% decrease, with a current market price of $16.47 and a market cap of $4.71 billion.
• Analysts hold a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for StoneCo, with price targets ranging from $15.00 to $20.00 after recent upgrades by several brokerages.

PDT Partners LLC acquired a new position in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 315,438 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,306,000. PDT Partners LLC owned approximately 0.11% of StoneCo at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in STNE. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of StoneCo by 1,486.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,903 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 2,720 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of StoneCo by 327.4% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,154 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 2,416 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of StoneCo by 143.0% in the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,614 shares of the company's stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 2,715 shares in the last quarter. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new position in shares of StoneCo in the 1st quarter worth about $58,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of StoneCo by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,708 shares of the company's stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 924 shares in the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on STNE. UBS Group lifted their price objective on StoneCo from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Barclays boosted their target price on StoneCo from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on StoneCo from $15.50 to $18.50 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Zacks Research raised StoneCo to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Two investment 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, StoneCo presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $15.36.

StoneCo Stock Up 4.8%

STNE stock traded up $0.79 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $17.30. 5,286,094 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,235,557. The stock has a market cap of $4.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. StoneCo Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $7.72 and a fifty-two week high of $17.44. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $14.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.24.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.03. StoneCo had a positive return on equity of 18.71% and a negative net margin of 8.37%.The firm had revenue of $643.82 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.78 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.