Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 954,646 Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)

Vanguard Group Inc. cut its stake in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) by 22.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,343,947 shares of the company's stock after selling 954,646 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 1.08% of StoneCo worth $26,651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in StoneCo by 254.7% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,256 shares of the company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 3,056 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in StoneCo by 166.7% during the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,400 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in StoneCo during the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,000. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its position in shares of StoneCo by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 7,500 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV bought a new position in shares of StoneCo in the fourth quarter worth $73,000. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

StoneCo Trading Up 3.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ STNE traded up $0.43 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $12.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,129,305 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,682,733. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.89. The stock has a market cap of $3.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.58, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42. StoneCo Ltd. has a 12 month low of $7.72 and a 12 month high of $17.09.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $582.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.59 billion. StoneCo had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 16.02%. On average, analysts anticipate that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

STNE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and set a $9.00 target price (down from $19.00) on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $5.70 to $6.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays increased their target price on StoneCo from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised StoneCo from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $14.50.

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.