StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) have earned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $15.63.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on STNE shares. Barclays lifted their target price on StoneCo from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Citigroup raised shares of StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $9.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Santander upgraded shares of StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $5.70 to $6.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StoneCo

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 1,486.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,903 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 2,720 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in StoneCo by 327.4% in the 1st 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. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 254.7% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,256 shares of the company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 3,056 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 627.0% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 4,551 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 3,925 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in StoneCo by 143.0% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,614 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 2,715 shares during the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

StoneCo Stock Down 2.9%

STNE traded down $0.41 during trading on Thursday, hitting $13.94. 13,149,700 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,819,930. StoneCo has a fifty-two week low of $7.72 and a fifty-two week high of $15.08. The stock has a market cap of $3.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.89, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.92. The business's 50 day moving average is $13.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $625.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.68 billion. StoneCo had a net margin of 16.02% and a return on equity of 13.92%. As a group, equities analysts expect that StoneCo will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.