Nucleo Capital LTDA. Sells 833,718 Shares of StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

Key Points

• Nucleo Capital LTDA. has reduced its holdings in StoneCo Ltd. by 33.9%, selling 833,718 shares, which now accounts for approximately 37.4% of its portfolio.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.19% of StoneCo, with several firms such as Nuveen LLC and JGP Global significantly increasing their positions recently.
• Analyst ratings for StoneCo vary, with Barclays and UBS Group raising their price targets, while others like Wall Street Zen have downgraded their recommendations.

Nucleo Capital LTDA. lessened its stake in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) by 33.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,623,344 shares of the company's stock after selling 833,718 shares during the quarter. StoneCo accounts for about 37.4% of Nucleo Capital LTDA.'s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Nucleo Capital LTDA. owned approximately 0.57% of StoneCo worth $17,013,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in StoneCo by 1,486.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,903 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 2,720 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its stake in StoneCo by 327.4% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,154 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 2,416 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 2,715 shares during the period. Twin Tree Management LP purchased a new position in StoneCo during the first quarter worth about $58,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in StoneCo by 13.6% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,708 shares of the company's stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 924 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.19% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STNE has been the topic of several research reports. Santander raised shares of StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Barclays raised 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of StoneCo to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Two research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $15.36.

StoneCo Stock Up 4.8%

NASDAQ:STNE traded up $0.79 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $17.30. The stock had a trading volume of 5,286,094 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,235,557. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.24. The company has a market capitalization of $4.95 billion, a PE ratio of -24.71, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.91. StoneCo Ltd. has a twelve month low of $7.72 and a twelve month high of $17.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $643.82 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.78 billion. StoneCo had a negative net margin of 8.37% and a positive return on equity of 18.71%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 EPS for the current year.

StoneCo Company 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.