Azora Capital LP Trims Holdings in StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

Azora Capital LP trimmed its holdings in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) by 68.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,525,339 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,337,992 shares during the quarter. StoneCo accounts for 1.3% of Azora Capital LP’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Azora Capital LP’s holdings in StoneCo were worth $28,844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in STNE. Tekne Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in StoneCo in the 2nd quarter worth about $35,288,000. Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its position in StoneCo by 218.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 4,234,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,070,000 after buying an additional 2,904,432 shares during the period. Alta Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in StoneCo in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,631,000. Truxt Investmentos Ltda. bought a new position in StoneCo in the 3rd quarter worth about $12,116,000. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its stake in StoneCo by 24.3% in the 3rd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 392,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,425,000 after acquiring an additional 76,650 shares in the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on STNE. Zacks Research raised shares of StoneCo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on StoneCo from $19.50 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Weiss Ratings raised StoneCo from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Santander cut StoneCo from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.44.

StoneCo Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:STNE opened at $13.81 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.55. StoneCo Ltd. has a one year low of $9.32 and a one year high of $19.95. The firm has a market cap of $3.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.37.

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

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.