Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Buys New Shares in StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 120,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,269,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of STNE. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in StoneCo in the 1st quarter worth approximately $902,000. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the 1st quarter worth approximately $70,000. Aberdeen Group plc boosted its stake in shares of StoneCo by 54.4% in the 2nd quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 33,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $538,000 after purchasing an additional 11,809 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the 2nd quarter valued at $193,000. Finally, CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 44.7% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 1,411 shares during the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Santander downgraded shares of StoneCo from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Zacks Research downgraded StoneCo from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. UBS Group dropped their target price on StoneCo from $20.00 to $19.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, BTIG Research began coverage on StoneCo in a research report on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price objective for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.50.

StoneCo Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:STNE opened at $16.86 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $15.43 and its 200 day moving average is $16.36. The company has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a PE ratio of -31.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.81. 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 Ltd. has a 1 year low of $8.64 and a 1 year high of $19.95.

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.