StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• StoneCo has a consensus “Hold” rating: Six of 10 covering analysts recommend holding the stock, while four rate it a buy. The average 12-month price target is $14.59.
• Analysts have generally reduced their price targets, with UBS, BTIG Research, Citigroup, and JPMorgan all lowering targets; Citigroup also downgraded the stock from buy to neutral.
• Institutional investors own 73.19% of StoneCo and several major funds increased their positions. The stock opened at $10.37, near its 52-week low, while the company reported quarterly EPS of $0.42, in line with estimates.

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) has earned an average rating of "Hold" from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $14.5857.

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings cut StoneCo from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group cut their target price on StoneCo from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 17th. BTIG Research reduced their target price on shares of StoneCo from $22.00 to $15.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 15th. Citigroup lowered shares of StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $18.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of StoneCo from $20.00 to $16.50 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Silvio Jose Morais sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.29, for a total transaction of $101,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 21,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $237,090. This represents a 30.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StoneCo

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in STNE. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda grew its stake in StoneCo by 47.6% during the 1st quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 7,728,014 shares of the company's stock worth $109,120,000 after buying an additional 2,491,394 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in StoneCo by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,714,651 shares of the company's stock valued at $114,101,000 after buying an additional 1,440,760 shares during the last quarter. BRC Global BAH Investments Ltd. boosted its holdings in StoneCo by 32.7% in the first quarter. BRC Global BAH Investments Ltd. now owns 7,580,409 shares of the company's stock worth $107,035,000 after acquiring an additional 1,867,018 shares in the last quarter. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. boosted its holdings in StoneCo by 435.5% in the first quarter. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 6,662,253 shares of the company's stock worth $94,071,000 after acquiring an additional 5,418,053 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 151.7% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,032,572 shares of the company's stock worth $85,180,000 after acquiring an additional 3,636,276 shares during the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

StoneCo Price Performance

NASDAQ STNE opened at $10.37 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.33. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $10.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.01. StoneCo has a 52-week low of $9.45 and a 52-week high of $19.95. The company has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a PE ratio of 4.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.74.

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

StoneCo Company 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.

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