StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.2143.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on STNE. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of StoneCo from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Zacks Research cut shares of StoneCo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on 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

Shares of STNE stock opened at $14.83 on Monday. StoneCo has a 12-month low of $7.72 and a 12-month high of $19.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.85. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.43.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43. StoneCo had a positive return on equity of 20.18% and a negative net margin of 7.28%.The firm had revenue of $669.49 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $669.81 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that StoneCo will post 1.16 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StoneCo

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo in the third quarter valued at approximately $58,017,000. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its position in StoneCo by 218.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 4,234,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,070,000 after acquiring an additional 2,904,432 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in StoneCo in the 2nd quarter worth $44,366,000. Azora Capital LP boosted its stake in StoneCo by 88.2% in the 2nd quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 4,863,331 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,008,000 after purchasing an additional 2,279,821 shares during the period. Finally, Tekne Capital Management LLC bought a new position in StoneCo during the 2nd quarter worth about $35,288,000. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About StoneCo

StoneCo Ltd., commonly known as Stone, is a Brazilian financial technology company that provides integrated digital payment solutions and related financial services to merchants. Through its cloud-based platform, Stone enables businesses of all sizes to accept a variety of payment methods, including point-of-sale (POS) terminals, mobile card readers and e-commerce gateways. In addition to payment acceptance, the company offers value-added services such as working capital loans, digital banking products and automated billing tools designed to help merchants manage cash flow and streamline operations.

Since its founding in 2012 by André Street and Eduardo Pontes, Stone has focused on serving over half a million merchants across Brazil’s retail, restaurant and services sectors.