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

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $16.8571.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Santander downgraded StoneCo from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research cut StoneCo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. UBS Group cut their price objective on StoneCo from $20.00 to $19.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, 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.

StoneCo Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ STNE opened at $16.72 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.43. StoneCo has a 1 year low of $8.64 and a 1 year high of $19.95. The firm has a market cap of $4.78 billion, a PE ratio of -30.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.83.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.43. The firm had revenue of $669.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $669.81 million. StoneCo had a negative net margin of 7.28% and a positive return on equity of 20.18%. On average, research analysts forecast that StoneCo will post 1.16 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StoneCo

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of STNE. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in StoneCo during the first quarter worth $902,000. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in StoneCo during the 1st quarter worth about $70,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in StoneCo by 334.4% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of StoneCo in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,411,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of StoneCo by 43.6% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,170 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267 shares in the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.