StoneCo Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:STNE)

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders bought 15,185 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 258% compared to the typical volume of 4,236 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group decreased their price objective on StoneCo from $20.00 to $19.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of StoneCo from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, StoneCo presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.50.

StoneCo Stock Up 5.3%

STNE stock opened at $17.99 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.15 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.31, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. StoneCo has a twelve month low of $8.64 and a twelve month high of $19.95. The company’s 50 day moving average is $15.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.29.

Institutional Trading of StoneCo

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in StoneCo by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,699 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 860 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 19,834 shares of the company’s stock valued at $375,000 after acquiring an additional 925 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 220,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,177,000 after acquiring an additional 978 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in StoneCo by 13.0% in the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 9,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its stake in StoneCo by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 18,399 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 1,140 shares during the period. 73.19% of the stock is 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.