64,608 Shares in StoneCo Ltd. $STNE Acquired by Vinland Capital Management Gestora de Recursos LTDA.

Vinland Capital Management Gestora de Recursos LTDA. purchased a new stake in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 64,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $912,000. StoneCo accounts for 1.8% of Vinland Capital Management Gestora de Recursos LTDA.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 92.6% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 41,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $588,000 after acquiring an additional 20,014 shares during the period. Verde Servicos Internacionais S.A. bought a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the first quarter valued at about $508,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo in the fourth quarter valued at about $626,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 74.1% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 936 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 274.1% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 3,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 2,333 shares in the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

StoneCo Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of StoneCo stock opened at $10.99 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. StoneCo Ltd. has a 12-month low of $9.45 and a 12-month high of $19.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.40, a PEG ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 1.73. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $11.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.82.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.42. The company had revenue of $141.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $675.11 million. StoneCo had a net margin of 23.82% and a return on equity of 21.05%. On average, analysts forecast that StoneCo Ltd. 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 given a dividend of $2.53 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 24th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other StoneCo news, Director Silvio Jose Morais sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.29, for a total transaction of $101,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 21,000 shares in the company, valued at $237,090. This represents a 30.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 11.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on STNE. BTIG Research dropped their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $22.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research raised shares of StoneCo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Citigroup downgraded shares of StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $18.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Friday, May 15th. UBS Group cut their price target on StoneCo from $19.50 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on StoneCo from $20.00 to $16.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.58.

StoneCo 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.