StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to "Buy" Rating

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of StoneCo from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citigroup upgraded shares of StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $9.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $5.70 to $6.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $15.63.

StoneCo Price Performance

Shares of STNE stock traded up $0.95 during trading on Thursday, hitting $13.86. The company had a trading volume of 2,449,598 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,719,041. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.01. StoneCo has a one year low of $7.72 and a one year high of $15.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $12.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.27.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $625.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.68 billion. StoneCo had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 16.02%. Equities analysts expect that StoneCo will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STNE. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in StoneCo by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 180,665 shares of the company's stock worth $1,893,000 after buying an additional 17,192 shares in the last quarter. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. grew its position in StoneCo by 3.1% in the first quarter. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 11,982,873 shares of the company's stock worth $125,581,000 after acquiring an additional 359,037 shares in the last quarter. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. bought a new position in StoneCo in the first quarter valued at $1,572,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in StoneCo by 65.5% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,514,742 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,887,000 after acquiring an additional 599,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in StoneCo during the first quarter worth about $902,000. 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.

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