StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Given Buy Rating at BTIG Research

BTIG Research reiterated their buy rating on shares of StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) in a research report report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $22.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of StoneCo from $20.00 to $19.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut 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. Zacks Research lowered StoneCo from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Santander cut StoneCo from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, StoneCo currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.50.

StoneCo Trading Down 19.4%

Shares of STNE stock opened at $13.73 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.97, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.78. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.43. StoneCo has a fifty-two week low of $8.64 and a fifty-two week high of $19.95.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $675.42 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $704.26 million. StoneCo had a return on equity of 21.33% and a net margin of 15.38%. Research analysts forecast that StoneCo will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StoneCo

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its position in StoneCo by 274.1% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 3,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 2,333 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of StoneCo during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in StoneCo by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 282,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,177,000 after acquiring an additional 27,637 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in StoneCo by 193.9% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 44,831 shares of the company’s stock valued at $674,000 after acquiring an additional 29,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in StoneCo in the fourth quarter valued at $4,626,000. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StoneCo News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting StoneCo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BTIG reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $22 price target (implies meaningful upside vs. current levels), supporting longer‑term bullish views. BTIG Reaffirms Buy
• Positive Sentiment: StoneCo beat EPS estimates (reported $0.50 vs. ~$0.48 consensus), which helps underwrite profitability narratives despite other misses. Earnings Beat (Zacks)
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional activity shows heavy repositioning (e.g., BlackRock materially increased its stake), which can provide a support floor if inflows continue. QuiverQuant Institutional Moves
• Neutral Sentiment: Company released the full Q4 results, slide deck and earnings call transcript — useful for investors who want to dig into segment performance, guidance and management commentary. Press Release & Slides
• Neutral Sentiment: Seeking Alpha published the full earnings transcript and presentation — helpful to assess management tone on Pix, credit trends and growth priorities. Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue came in materially below expectations (reported ~$675M vs. consensus nearer ~$704M; some third‑party feeds showed much larger consensus misses), and adjusted gross profit fell short — the primary reason for the stock weakness. Revenue & Gross Profit Miss (QuiverQuant)
• Negative Sentiment: Seeking Alpha and other reports call out a Linx impairment and weaker operating/cash‑flow metrics, which amplify near‑term earnings quality concerns and likely drove the intra‑day selling. Linx Impairment & Gross Profit Shortfall
• Negative Sentiment: Investor scrutiny on credit exposure and Pix growth (payment rails) could pressure sentiment until management gives clearer guidance or trend improvement. Credit & Pix Scrutiny

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.