Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Has $1.84 Million Stock Position in StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lowered its position in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) by 43.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 124,429 shares of the company’s stock after selling 96,445 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in StoneCo were worth $1,840,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Optivise Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the fourth quarter worth about $172,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 206.8% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 294,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,351,000 after purchasing an additional 198,314 shares in the last quarter. CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $570,000. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $507,000. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new stake in StoneCo during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

StoneCo Trading Up 1.7%

NASDAQ STNE opened at $14.36 on Thursday. StoneCo Ltd. has a 52 week low of $9.83 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 moving average price is $15.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.39, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.78.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on STNE. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of StoneCo from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research raised shares of StoneCo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $19.50 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, StoneCo has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.07.

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.