WINTON GROUP Ltd Purchases 96,100 Shares of StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

Key Points

• WINTON GROUP Ltd increased its stake in StoneCo by 164%, buying an additional 96,100 shares to hold 154,700 shares (about 0.05% of the company) worth $2.925 million at quarter-end.
• StoneCo reported quarterly EPS of $0.50 (beating the $0.48 estimate) but missed revenue expectations ($675.4M vs. $704.3M); the stock trades near $14.09 with a market cap of $4.03B and a P/E of 9.21.
• The stock carries a consensus "Moderate Buy" with a $17.50 price target from analysts, and institutional investors own roughly 73.2% of outstanding shares.

WINTON GROUP Ltd increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) by 164.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 154,700 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 96,100 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd owned about 0.05% of StoneCo worth $2,925,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of STNE. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in StoneCo in the third quarter worth $55,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 64.2% during the third quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,943 shares of the company's stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the third quarter valued at $55,000. Concord Wealth Partners bought a new position in shares of StoneCo in the third quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in StoneCo by 773.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,608 shares of the company's stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 3,195 shares in the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

StoneCo Trading Up 1.6%

NASDAQ:STNE opened at $14.09 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. StoneCo Ltd. has a 1-year low of $8.95 and a 1-year high of $19.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.21, a PEG ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 1.78. The business's 50-day moving average price is $15.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.59.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $675.42 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $704.26 million. StoneCo had a return on equity of 21.55% and a net margin of 15.38%. On average, equities analysts expect that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of StoneCo from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of StoneCo from $20.00 to $19.50 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Zacks Research raised shares of StoneCo from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Santander cut shares of StoneCo from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $17.50.

About StoneCo

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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