Bank of New York Mellon Corp Reduces Stake in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp trimmed its position in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) by 25.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 731,918 shares of the company's stock after selling 255,207 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.24% of StoneCo worth $7,671,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STNE. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo during the 4th quarter worth $101,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in StoneCo in the fourth quarter valued at about $132,000. HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of StoneCo during the fourth quarter worth about $312,000. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in shares of StoneCo during the fourth quarter worth about $214,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of StoneCo by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 21,082 shares of the company's stock worth $168,000 after acquiring an additional 1,205 shares during the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

StoneCo Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of StoneCo stock traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $13.38. The company had a trading volume of 3,189,730 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,334,772. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.94. The company has a 50 day moving average of $14.51 and a 200 day moving average of $11.96. StoneCo Ltd. has a 52-week low of $7.72 and a 52-week high of $16.68.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $625.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.68 billion. StoneCo had a positive return on equity of 16.65% and a negative net margin of 8.90%. On average, equities analysts predict that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays raised 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. lifted 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. Citigroup raised StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $9.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Santander upgraded StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, StoneCo has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.