StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Lowered to "Hold" Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• StoneCo has been downgraded from a "buy" to a "hold" rating by Wall Street Zen, reflecting a shift in analyst sentiment towards the company's stock.
• Despite the downgrade, analysts are divided with several maintaining a "buy" rating and a target price increase from $15.00 to $25.00 from various firms, showing mixed confidence in StoneCo's performance.
• The stock currently has a one-year low of $7.72 and a high of $19.95, highlighting significant volatility in its market performance over the past year.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other analysts also recently commented on STNE. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of StoneCo in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of StoneCo from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Zacks Research raised shares of StoneCo to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $15.50 to $18.50 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, StoneCo currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $16.56.

StoneCo Stock Performance

Shares of STNE opened at $17.24 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $16.83 and a 200-day moving average of $14.67. StoneCo has a one year low of $7.72 and a one year high of $19.95. The company has a market cap of $4.93 billion, a PE ratio of -24.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.48.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $643.82 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.78 billion. StoneCo had a negative net margin of 8.37% and a positive return on equity of 18.71%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that StoneCo will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StoneCo

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STNE. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in StoneCo during the 1st quarter worth approximately $70,502,000. JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda. increased its position in StoneCo by 484.8% during the 1st quarter. JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda. now owns 4,472,738 shares of the company's stock worth $46,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,707,941 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in StoneCo during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,366,000. Azora Capital LP increased its position in StoneCo by 88.2% during the 2nd quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 4,863,331 shares of the company's stock worth $78,008,000 after purchasing an additional 2,279,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tekne Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in StoneCo during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,288,000. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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