Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Makes New Investment in StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new position in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 163,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,414,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of STNE. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,721 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo in the 3rd quarter valued at $55,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of StoneCo by 64.2% in the 3rd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo in the 3rd quarter valued at $60,000. 73.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StoneCo Price Performance

STNE opened at $10.84 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $14.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.58. StoneCo Ltd. has a 12-month low of $10.74 and a 12-month high of $19.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $2.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.09, a PEG ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 1.73.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. 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 return on equity of 21.55% and a net margin of 15.38%.The firm had revenue of $675.42 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $704.26 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

StoneCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a special dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 4th. Investors of record on Friday, April 24th were paid a dividend of $2.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 24th.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Santander lowered StoneCo from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. UBS Group decreased their price target on StoneCo from $19.50 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised StoneCo from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, StoneCo has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.00.

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.