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

Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $14.57.

STNE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on StoneCo from $5.70 to $6.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays boosted their target price on StoneCo from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded StoneCo from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Santander upgraded StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Citigroup upgraded StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StoneCo

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,720 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 327.4% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,154 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 2,416 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 254.7% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,256 shares of the company's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 3,056 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 3,925 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 143.0% in the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,614 shares of the company's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 2,715 shares during the period. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StoneCo Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STNE traded up $0.30 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $16.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,693,256 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,809,641. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.66 billion, a PE ratio of -20.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $14.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.37. StoneCo has a 52 week low of $7.72 and a 52 week high of $16.35.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last released 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 analyst estimates of $3.68 billion. StoneCo had a positive return on equity of 16.65% and a negative net margin of 8.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that StoneCo will post 1.16 EPS 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.