Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Buys 20,036 Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) by 27.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 92,464 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,036 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in StoneCo were worth $1,667,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. 1832 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in StoneCo during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in StoneCo during the 2nd quarter worth $38,000. Tucker Asset Management LLC bought a new position in StoneCo during the 3rd quarter worth $60,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its position in StoneCo by 28.8% during the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 6,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in StoneCo by 281.5% during the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 6,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 4,625 shares during the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on STNE. UBS Group downgraded StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on StoneCo from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded StoneCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $12.00 to $21.00 in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on StoneCo from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.80.

StoneCo Stock Performance

Shares of STNE opened at $16.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $16.95 and a 200-day moving average of $15.12. The company has a market cap of $5.23 billion, a PE ratio of 16.48 and a beta of 2.34. StoneCo Ltd. has a one year low of $9.34 and a one year high of $19.46.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 18th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. StoneCo had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 13.35%. The company had revenue of $655.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $468.47 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.