StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $17.5833.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on STNE shares. Citigroup lowered shares of StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $18.00 to $11.00 in a research note on Friday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $20.00 to $16.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. BTIG Research cut their price target on shares of StoneCo from $22.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $19.50 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STNE. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in StoneCo by 151.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,032,572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,180,000 after buying an additional 3,636,276 shares during the period. Amundi grew its position in shares of StoneCo by 34.4% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 430,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,072,000 after buying an additional 110,101 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of StoneCo by 77.4% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 1,180 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in StoneCo by 209.5% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 47,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $676,000 after purchasing an additional 32,416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. boosted its holdings in StoneCo by 435.5% in the first quarter. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 6,662,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,071,000 after purchasing an additional 5,418,053 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

StoneCo Trading Down 5.3%

StoneCo stock opened at $10.64 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $12.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.41. StoneCo has a 1 year low of $9.45 and a 1 year high of $19.95. The stock has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.26, a PEG ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.33.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.42. StoneCo had a net margin of 23.82% and a return on equity of 21.05%. The company had revenue of $141.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $675.11 million. On average, equities analysts predict that StoneCo will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StoneCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a special dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 24th were issued a $2.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 24th.

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.