StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $17.50.

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. UBS Group dropped their price target on StoneCo from $20.00 to $19.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research 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. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Santander lowered shares of StoneCo from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StoneCo

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the 1st quarter valued at about $902,000. Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of StoneCo during the first quarter worth about $70,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC acquired a new stake in StoneCo in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $193,000. CWM LLC lifted its stake in StoneCo by 44.7% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. lifted its stake in StoneCo by 13.9% in the 2nd quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 2,082,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,408,000 after acquiring an additional 254,075 shares in the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

StoneCo Trading Down 6.0%

Shares of NASDAQ STNE opened at $16.66 on Tuesday. StoneCo has a twelve month low of $8.64 and a twelve month high of $19.95. The stock has a market cap of $4.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company’s fifty day moving average is $15.64 and its 200-day moving average is $16.57.

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.