StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Shares Up 4.7% - Should You Buy?

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) shares shot up 4.7% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $14.24 and last traded at $14.40. 1,320,751 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 6,459,930 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.75.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STNE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup upgraded shares of StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised StoneCo from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Barclays upped their price target on StoneCo from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $5.70 to $6.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $15.38.

StoneCo Stock Down 0.9 %

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 firm's 50 day moving average price is $11.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.07. The firm has a market cap of $4.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.05.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.07. StoneCo had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 16.02%. The company had revenue of $582.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.59 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of StoneCo

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. boosted its holdings in StoneCo by 46.8% in the 4th quarter. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 13,951,183 shares of the company's stock valued at $111,191,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446,709 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in StoneCo during the fourth quarter worth $22,642,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in StoneCo by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 13,956,554 shares of the company's stock worth $111,234,000 after acquiring an additional 2,534,079 shares in the last quarter. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. lifted its holdings in StoneCo by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 11,623,836 shares of the company's stock valued at $92,642,000 after acquiring an additional 2,173,389 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of StoneCo by 40.3% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,993,611 shares of the company's stock worth $55,739,000 after purchasing an additional 2,008,710 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.19% of the company's stock.

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.