StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the ten research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $15.25.

A number of research firms have weighed in on STNE. Wells Fargo & Company raised StoneCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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 target on shares of StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded StoneCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $9.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday.

StoneCo Price Performance

NASDAQ:STNE opened at $13.12 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $10.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.91. StoneCo has a 12 month low of $7.72 and a 12 month high of $17.09. 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 (NASDAQ:STNE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $582.20 million for 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 expect that StoneCo will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. boosted its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 46.8% in the 4th quarter. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 13,951,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,191,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446,709 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo in the 4th quarter worth $22,642,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in StoneCo by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 13,956,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,234,000 after acquiring an additional 2,534,079 shares during the last quarter. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. grew its position in StoneCo by 23.0% during the fourth quarter. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 11,623,836 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,642,000 after acquiring an additional 2,173,389 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its stake in StoneCo by 40.3% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,993,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,739,000 after acquiring an additional 2,008,710 shares during the last quarter. 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.