StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Hits New 1-Year High - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• StoneCo Ltd. reached a new 52-week high at $16.72, with significant trading volume of over 1.24 million shares, indicating strong market interest.
• Analysts have varied opinions on the stock, with Zacks Research rating it as a "strong-buy" while Wall Street Zen downgraded it to a "hold", leading to a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".
• The company reported earnings of $0.39 per share for the last quarter, beating expectations despite reporting a revenue significantly lower than analyst forecasts.

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $16.72 and last traded at $16.69, with a volume of 1243972 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.92.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of StoneCo from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of StoneCo from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Zacks Research raised shares of StoneCo to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Santander raised shares of StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, StoneCo currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $15.36.

StoneCo Trading Down 0.7%

The company's 50 day moving average price is $14.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The firm has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a PE ratio of -23.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.91.

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

Institutional Trading of StoneCo

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in STNE. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of StoneCo during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of StoneCo by 334.4% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,598 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of StoneCo by 1,486.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,903 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 2,720 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of StoneCo by 327.4% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,154 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 2,416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in StoneCo by 143.0% in the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,614 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 2,715 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.19% of the company's stock.

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.