StoneCo Ltd. $STNE Shares Bought by Bank of America Corp DE

Key Points

• Bank of America increased its StoneCo stake by 151.7% in the first quarter, purchasing 3.64 million additional shares and bringing its holdings to 6.03 million shares worth approximately $85.2 million.
• Institutional ownership remains high at 73.19%, with several investment firms—including Squadra Investments and SPX Gestao de Recursos—substantially increasing their positions.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: StoneCo has a consensus “Hold” rating with an average price target of $14.59, while several firms recently lowered their targets or downgraded the stock. Shares opened at $10.60, near their 52-week low.

Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) by 151.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,032,572 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,636,276 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 2.42% of StoneCo worth $85,180,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BRC Global BAH Investments Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 4th quarter worth approximately $84,501,000. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. grew its stake in StoneCo by 435.5% in the 1st quarter. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 6,662,253 shares of the company's stock valued at $94,071,000 after acquiring an additional 5,418,053 shares during the period. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda grew its stake in StoneCo by 1,054.8% in the 4th quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 5,236,620 shares of the company's stock valued at $77,450,000 after acquiring an additional 4,783,158 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new stake in StoneCo in the 3rd quarter worth $58,017,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in StoneCo in the 4th quarter worth $45,247,000. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. BTIG Research reduced their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $22.00 to $15.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of StoneCo from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Bank of America cut shares of StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $13.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of StoneCo from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $18.00 to $11.00 in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $14.59.

Insider Buying and Selling at StoneCo

In related news, Director Silvio Jose Morais sold 9,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.29, for a total transaction of $101,610.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 21,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $237,090. The trade was a 30.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 11.25% of the company's stock.

StoneCo Stock Down 4.3%

NASDAQ STNE opened at $10.60 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $10.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.05. StoneCo Ltd. has a one year low of $9.45 and a one year high of $19.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.33. The company has a market cap of $2.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.74.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.42. StoneCo had a net margin of 23.82% and a return on equity of 21.05%. The company had revenue of $141.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $675.11 million. Research analysts anticipate that StoneCo Ltd. will post 2.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StoneCo Profile

StoneCo Ltd., commonly known as Stone, is a Brazilian financial technology company that provides integrated digital payment solutions and related financial services to merchants. Through its cloud-based platform, Stone enables businesses of all sizes to accept a variety of payment methods, including point-of-sale (POS) terminals, mobile card readers and e-commerce gateways. In addition to payment acceptance, the company offers value-added services such as working capital loans, digital banking products and automated billing tools designed to help merchants manage cash flow and streamline operations.

Since its founding in 2012 by André Street and Eduardo Pontes, Stone has focused on serving over half a million merchants across Brazil's retail, restaurant and services sectors.

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