Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Takes Position in StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 240,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,539,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of StoneCo by 11,473.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,721 shares during the last quarter. Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the third quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of StoneCo by 64.2% in the third 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. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on STNE. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of StoneCo from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Santander lowered shares of StoneCo from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of StoneCo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, StoneCo presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.00.

StoneCo Stock Down 3.2%

Shares of NASDAQ STNE opened at $10.42 on Tuesday. StoneCo Ltd. has a 1 year low of $10.26 and a 1 year high of $19.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $13.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.33. The firm has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. StoneCo had a net margin of 15.38% and a return on equity of 21.55%. 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 anticipate that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

StoneCo Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 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.