StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.4375.

Several analysts have weighed in on STNE shares. Zacks Research raised shares of StoneCo to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of StoneCo from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of StoneCo from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of StoneCo from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th.

StoneCo Stock Performance

NASDAQ STNE opened at $17.00 on Wednesday. StoneCo has a 52-week low of $7.72 and a 52-week high of $19.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.48. The company has a market capitalization of $4.86 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.99. The company has a fifty day moving average of $17.00 and a 200-day moving average of $14.77.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $643.82 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.78 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that StoneCo will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of StoneCo

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. lifted its stake in StoneCo by 3.1% in the first quarter. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 11,982,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,581,000 after purchasing an additional 359,037 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of StoneCo during the first quarter valued at about $70,502,000. Azora Capital LP raised its stake in shares of StoneCo by 88.2% during the second quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 4,863,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,008,000 after acquiring an additional 2,279,821 shares during the last quarter. JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda. raised its stake in shares of StoneCo by 484.8% during the first quarter. JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda. now owns 4,472,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,707,941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of StoneCo during the second quarter valued at about $44,366,000. 73.19% of the stock is owned by 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.