StoneCo Ltd. $STNE Stake Raised by SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda

Key Points

• SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda increased its StoneCo stake by 47.6% in Q1, buying 2.49 million additional shares and bringing its total to 7.73 million shares worth about $109.1 million.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and other institutions holding 73.19% of StoneCo stock. Several other funds also boosted or initiated positions during the period.
• Analysts have turned more cautious: Bank of America and Citigroup both downgraded StoneCo to neutral, and the stock currently carries a consensus Hold rating with an average price target of $14.92.

SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda increased its position in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) by 47.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,728,014 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,491,394 shares during the period. StoneCo makes up approximately 9.1% of SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda's holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda owned 3.10% of StoneCo worth $109,120,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BRC Global BAH Investments Ltd. purchased a new stake in StoneCo during the 4th quarter valued at $84,501,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 131.5% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 219,614 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,248,000 after purchasing an additional 124,734 shares during the last quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. lifted its position in StoneCo by 71.7% during the fourth quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 2,499,733 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043,464 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank purchased a new stake in StoneCo in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,546,000. Finally, KBC Group NV bought a new stake in StoneCo in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,205,000. 73.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Silvio Jose Morais sold 9,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.29, for a total value of $101,610.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 21,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $237,090. The trade was a 30.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 11.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

StoneCo Stock Down 0.4%

STNE opened at $11.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.33. StoneCo Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $9.45 and a fifty-two week high of $19.95. The firm's fifty day moving average is $10.85 and its 200 day moving average is $13.43. The stock has a market cap of $2.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.73.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42. StoneCo had a return on equity of 21.05% and a net margin of 23.82%.The business had revenue of $141.16 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $675.11 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that StoneCo Ltd. will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America cut StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $13.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on StoneCo from $20.00 to $16.50 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. BTIG Research dropped their target price on StoneCo from $22.00 to $15.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of StoneCo from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the company from $18.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, StoneCo currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $14.92.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.