Northern Trust Corp Lowers Stake in StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp has reduced its stake in StoneCo Ltd. by 19.5%, selling 599,970 shares and retaining approximately 0.86% ownership worth $25.9 million as of the latest quarter.
• Barclays raised its price target on StoneCo from $13.00 to $15.00, while UBS Group increased it to $20.00, indicating a reconsideration of the stock's performance by various brokerages.
• StoneCo reported $0.39 earnings per share for the recent quarter, exceeding analyst expectations, with revenue of $643.82 million against a forecast of $3.78 billion.

Northern Trust Corp lowered its holdings in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) by 19.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,473,688 shares of the company's stock after selling 599,970 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned about 0.86% of StoneCo worth $25,924,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of STNE. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 1,486.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,903 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 2,720 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of StoneCo by 327.4% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,154 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 2,416 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of StoneCo by 143.0% in the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,614 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 2,715 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in StoneCo by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,708 shares of the company's stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 924 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in StoneCo by 18.4% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,473 shares of the company's stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 1,317 shares during the period. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

StoneCo Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:STNE traded up $0.45 on Friday, reaching $16.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,610,913 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,905,208. The company has a market cap of $4.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.15, a PEG ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 1.91. StoneCo Ltd. has a 52-week low of $7.72 and a 52-week high of $17.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.48. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.15.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STNE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Santander upgraded StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Zacks Research raised shares of StoneCo to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of StoneCo from $15.50 to $18.50 and gave the stock 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 assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, StoneCo presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $15.36.

StoneCo Profile

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.