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

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $17.4375.

Several research firms recently commented on STNE. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Weiss Ratings raised StoneCo from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. UBS Group decreased their price target on StoneCo from $19.50 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of StoneCo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Santander lowered shares of StoneCo from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StoneCo

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in StoneCo by 11,473.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,736 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,721 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of StoneCo during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in shares of StoneCo during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Torren Management LLC bought a new position in shares of StoneCo in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo in the third quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

StoneCo Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of StoneCo stock opened at $13.81 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 1.78. StoneCo has a 52-week low of $9.32 and a 52-week high of $19.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.54.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. StoneCo had a net margin of 15.38% and a return on equity of 21.55%. The firm had revenue of $675.42 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $704.26 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that StoneCo will post 1.16 EPS for the current year.

StoneCo Company Profile

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.