StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Cut to “Strong Sell” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Santander downgraded shares of StoneCo from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $20.00 to $19.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, StoneCo has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.86.

StoneCo Stock Down 2.5%

STNE opened at $16.33 on Monday. StoneCo has a fifty-two week low of $8.64 and a fifty-two week high of $19.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.24, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.81. The company’s 50-day moving average is $15.28 and its 200 day moving average is $16.21. 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 data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43. StoneCo had a negative net margin of 7.28% and a positive return on equity of 20.18%. The business had revenue of $669.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $669.81 million. Research analysts expect that StoneCo will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of StoneCo

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in StoneCo by 22.4% in the 4th 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. lifted its position in shares of StoneCo by 4.9% during the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 19,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $375,000 after acquiring an additional 925 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 0.4% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 220,874 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,177,000 after acquiring an additional 978 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of StoneCo by 13.0% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its stake in shares of StoneCo by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 18,399 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 1,140 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

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.