StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Shares Gap Down - Here's Why

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $13.52, but opened at $12.89. StoneCo shares last traded at $13.36, with a volume of 1,369,223 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on STNE shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on StoneCo from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Santander raised StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised StoneCo from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded StoneCo from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $15.63.

StoneCo Stock Up 1.2%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $12.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.01.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $625.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 Ltd. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StoneCo

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in StoneCo during the first quarter valued at about $70,502,000. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. increased its stake in StoneCo by 46.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 4,446,709 shares during the period. JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda. increased its stake in StoneCo by 484.8% during the first quarter. JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda. now owns 4,472,738 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,707,941 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in StoneCo during the fourth quarter valued at about $22,642,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in StoneCo by 22.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,534,079 shares during the period. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by 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.