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

Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $14.57.

STNE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup raised shares of StoneCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Santander raised shares of StoneCo from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on StoneCo from $5.70 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wall Street Zen cut StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on StoneCo from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th.

StoneCo Trading Up 0.8%

STNE opened at $16.13 on Monday. StoneCo has a twelve month low of $7.72 and a twelve month high of $16.32. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.94.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $625.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.68 billion. StoneCo had a negative net margin of 8.90% and a positive return on equity of 16.65%. Analysts predict that StoneCo will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StoneCo

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 13.6% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,708 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 924 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 4.7% during the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 21,762 shares of the company’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 981 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 21,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $168,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 18.4% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,473 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 1,317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lifted its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 31.6% during the fourth 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. 73.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.