StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts give StoneCo a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from 10 firms (six buys, four holds) with an average 1-year target of about $19.07.
• Recent analyst moves are mixed: UBS and Goldman cut targets to $19, BTIG reaffirmed a $22 buy, Santander downgraded to neutral, and Weiss upgraded the stock from sell to hold.
• Operationally StoneCo reported a quarterly EPS of $0.50 (beat $0.48) but missed revenue at $606.3M vs. $704.3M expected, while institutional ownership is high at ~73.2% with new/expanded stakes from AQR, Arrowstreet and Invesco.

Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the ten research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $19.0714.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on STNE. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $19.50 to $19.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Santander cut shares of StoneCo from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of StoneCo from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StoneCo

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in StoneCo in the first quarter valued at $902,000. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in StoneCo in the first quarter valued at $70,000. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its position in StoneCo by 37.4% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 28,075 shares of the company's stock valued at $450,000 after acquiring an additional 7,635 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in StoneCo in the second quarter valued at $11,980,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in StoneCo by 8.3% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 256,142 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,109,000 after acquiring an additional 19,723 shares during the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StoneCo Stock Performance

Shares of STNE stock opened at $13.82 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. StoneCo has a 52 week low of $10.15 and a 52 week high of $19.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a PE ratio of 9.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $15.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.11.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 3rd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $606.32 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $704.26 million. StoneCo had a net margin of 15.38% and a return on equity of 21.55%. On average, research analysts predict that StoneCo will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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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