StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Key Points

• Zacks Research upgraded StoneCo to a "strong-buy" rating, indicating increased confidence in the company's potential for growth.
• StoneCo's stock price recently increased to $15.59, with analysts giving the company a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a price target of $15.07.
• Significant recent activity from hedge funds shows growing institutional interest, with 73.19% of the stock currently owned by institutional investors.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research to a "strong-buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, August 12th,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of StoneCo from $15.50 to $18.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Barclays lifted their price target 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. Santander raised shares of StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Citigroup upgraded shares of StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $9.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered StoneCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $15.07.

StoneCo Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:STNE traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $14.81. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,591,867 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,058,218. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $14.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.63. StoneCo has a 1 year low of $7.72 and a 1 year high of $16.68. The firm has a market cap of $4.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. StoneCo had a negative net margin of 8.37% and a positive return on equity of 18.71%. The business had revenue of $643.82 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.78 billion. Research analysts forecast that StoneCo will post 1.16 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of StoneCo

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in StoneCo during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in StoneCo by 334.4% during the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,598 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in StoneCo by 1,486.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,903 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 2,720 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in StoneCo by 327.4% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,154 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 2,416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in StoneCo by 627.0% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 4,551 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 3,925 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.19% of the company's stock.

About StoneCo

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.