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

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

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of StoneCo from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock 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 lifted their price objective for the stock from $9.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Santander upgraded StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday.

StoneCo Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of STNE stock traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $13.28. The stock had a trading volume of 5,161,645 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,723,167. StoneCo has a 12-month low of $7.72 and a 12-month high of $15.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.01. The firm's 50-day moving average is $12.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $625.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.68 billion. StoneCo had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 16.02%. On average, analysts predict that StoneCo will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StoneCo

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in StoneCo by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 13,956,554 shares of the company's stock valued at $111,234,000 after buying an additional 2,534,079 shares during the last quarter. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 46.8% in the fourth quarter. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 13,951,183 shares of the company's stock valued at $111,191,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446,709 shares during the period. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 3.1% in the first quarter. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 11,982,873 shares of the company's stock valued at $125,581,000 after purchasing an additional 359,037 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 40.3% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,993,611 shares of the company's stock valued at $55,739,000 after purchasing an additional 2,008,710 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo in the first quarter valued at about $70,502,000. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.