Absolute Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. Reduces Stock Position in StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

Key Points

• Absolute Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. reduced its stake in StoneCo Ltd. by 74.8%, selling 255,920 shares and holding 86,286 shares at the end of the first quarter.
• Various institutional investors showed mixed activity with StoneCo, with LPL Financial LLC increasing its holdings by 15.8% in the fourth quarter, while Advisory Services Network LLC's stake grew by 90.6%.
• StoneCo's shares recently received a mixed reception from analysts, with ratings ranging from a "buy" to a "hold," and the consensus price target set at $15.07.

Absolute Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. lowered its stake in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) by 74.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 86,286 shares of the company's stock after selling 255,920 shares during the quarter. StoneCo accounts for about 0.4% of Absolute Gestao de Investimentos Ltda.'s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Absolute Gestao de Investimentos Ltda.'s holdings in StoneCo were worth $904,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 13.6% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,708 shares of the company's stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 924 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 4.7% during the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 21,762 shares of the company's stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 981 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 18.4% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,473 shares of the company's stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 1,317 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 327.4% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,154 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 2,416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 143.0% during the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,614 shares of the company's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 2,715 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.19% of the company's stock.

StoneCo Stock Performance

NASDAQ STNE traded up $0.52 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $15.35. 4,191,397 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,870,819. The company has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.88. StoneCo Ltd. has a 12-month low of $7.72 and a 12-month high of $16.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $14.73 and a 200 day moving average of $12.73. 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 (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. StoneCo had a negative net margin of 8.37% and a positive return on equity of 18.71%. The firm had revenue of $643.82 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.78 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STNE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of StoneCo to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. 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 price objective on shares of StoneCo from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Santander upgraded shares of StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $15.50 to $18.50 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, StoneCo currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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.