UBS Group Lowers StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Price Target to $19.00

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) had its price objective dropped by research analysts at UBS Group from $19.50 to $19.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. UBS Group’s target price indicates a potential upside of 37.28% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of StoneCo from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Zacks Research raised shares of StoneCo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Santander cut shares of StoneCo from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.44.

StoneCo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:STNE opened at $13.84 on Wednesday. StoneCo has a twelve month low of $9.11 and a twelve month high of $19.95. The firm has a market cap of $3.96 billion, a PE ratio of 9.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 1.78. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $15.77 and a 200-day moving average of $16.56.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $704.26 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that StoneCo will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of StoneCo

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in StoneCo by 11,473.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,736 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,721 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo during the third quarter worth about $37,000. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Torren Management LLC bought a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.