Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Raises Position in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) by 177.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 52,602 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 33,624 shares during the quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's holdings in StoneCo were worth $419,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo in the fourth quarter worth approximately $22,642,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda raised its position in StoneCo by 3,248.6% in the fourth quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 1,813,588 shares of the company's stock worth $14,454,000 after acquiring an additional 1,759,429 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of StoneCo by 327.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,580,679 shares of the company's stock worth $17,798,000 after acquiring an additional 1,210,817 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in shares of StoneCo during the 4th quarter valued at $6,178,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the 4th quarter worth $2,521,000. 73.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StoneCo Price Performance

STNE traded up $0.12 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $13.46. 377,815 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,698,044. The company has a market cap of $3.85 billion, a PE ratio of 10.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.01. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $11.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. StoneCo Ltd. has a 1 year low of $7.72 and a 1 year high of $17.09.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $582.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.59 billion. StoneCo had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 16.02%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on STNE. Wells Fargo & Company raised StoneCo from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of StoneCo from $5.70 to $6.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Citigroup raised 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 report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $15.38.

StoneCo 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.