StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $15.11, but opened at $14.41. StoneCo shares last traded at $14.0390, with a volume of 3,686,775 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STNE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on StoneCo from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Zacks Research downgraded StoneCo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, StoneCo presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.21.

StoneCo Trading Down 8.0%

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $15.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.43. The company has a market capitalization of $3.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 1.83.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43. The firm had revenue of $669.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $669.81 million. StoneCo had a negative net margin of 7.28% and a positive return on equity of 20.18%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in StoneCo during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new stake in StoneCo in the third quarter worth $37,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 334.4% in the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the third quarter worth $55,000. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. bought a new position in shares of StoneCo during the third quarter valued at $55,000. Hedge funds and other 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.