Federated Hermes Inc. Cuts Stock Position in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)

Key Points

• Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its stake in StoneCo Ltd. by 23.8% during the first quarter, now holding approximately 1.18 million shares valued at $12.4 million.
• Research analysts have given StoneCo a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy", with target prices ranging from $13.00 to $18.50 across several firms.
• StoneCo reported earnings of $0.34 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, but its revenue of $625.86 million fell short of estimates of $3.68 billion.

Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its position in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) by 23.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,183,051 shares of the company's stock after selling 369,585 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned approximately 0.41% of StoneCo worth $12,398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in STNE. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. grew its position 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 worth $111,191,000 after buying an additional 4,446,709 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo during the fourth quarter worth about $22,642,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position 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 worth $111,234,000 after buying an additional 2,534,079 shares in the last quarter. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. grew its position in shares of StoneCo by 23.0% during 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. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in StoneCo by 40.3% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,993,611 shares of the company's stock valued at $55,739,000 after purchasing an additional 2,008,710 shares in the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

StoneCo Stock Performance

Shares of STNE stock traded up $0.57 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $13.41. The stock had a trading volume of 4,461,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,050,692. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a PE 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 stock's 50 day moving average is $14.45 and its 200 day moving average is $12.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $625.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.68 billion. StoneCo had a positive return on equity of 16.65% and a negative net margin of 8.90%. As a group, research analysts forecast that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STNE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on StoneCo from $15.50 to $18.50 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Barclays upped their price target on StoneCo from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Citigroup raised StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $9.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Santander raised StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target 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.