StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Shares Gap Up - What's Next?

Key Points

• StoneCo Ltd. shares gapped up from a previous close of $13.50 to an opening price of $14.75, and were last traded at $14.30 with a volume of over 2.7 million shares.
• Analysts have recently upgraded their ratings on StoneCo, with Citigroup and JPMorgan raising their price targets to $15.00 and $18.50, respectively, while the stock holds a consensus rating of Moderate Buy.
• StoneCo reported a quarterly EPS of $0.34, surpassing analysts' expectations, although its revenue of $625.86 million was significantly below the forecast of $3.68 billion.

Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $13.50, but opened at $14.75. StoneCo shares last traded at $14.30, with a volume of 2,723,031 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of StoneCo from $15.50 to $18.50 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Barclays boosted their price target on StoneCo from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Santander upgraded StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, StoneCo has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $15.07.

StoneCo Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $14.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.17 billion, a PE ratio of -18.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.88.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $625.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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, equities research analysts forecast that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of STNE. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 13.0% during the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 9,577 shares of the company's stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104 shares during the period. Advyzon Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo during the 2nd quarter worth about $173,000. Compass Group LLC purchased a new stake in StoneCo in the second quarter valued at $154,000. Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo during the second quarter worth approximately $459,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in StoneCo in the 2nd quarter valued at about $706,000. 73.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StoneCo Company Profile

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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