StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Sets New 52-Week Low – Should You Sell?

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $12.25 and last traded at $11.9940, with a volume of 109392 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $14.55.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of StoneCo from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of StoneCo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, StoneCo has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.00.

StoneCo Trading Down 16.0%

The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The business’s 50-day moving average is $14.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.76. The firm has a market cap of $3.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.89.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 3rd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $675.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $704.26 million. As a group, analysts expect that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StoneCo Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a special dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 4th. Investors of record on Friday, April 24th will be given a dividend of $2.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 24th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StoneCo

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STNE. Ninety One UK Ltd increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 218.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 4,234,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,070,000 after acquiring an additional 2,904,432 shares during the period. Alta Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,631,000. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 71.7% in the 4th quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 2,499,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043,464 shares during the period. Jain Global LLC increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 381.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jain Global LLC now owns 769,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,553,000 after acquiring an additional 609,627 shares during the period. Finally, Truxt Investmentos Ltda. acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the 3rd quarter worth about $12,116,000. Institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

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.