Incline Global Management LLC Invests $11.43 Million in StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

Incline Global Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 773,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,434,000. StoneCo accounts for approximately 3.9% of Incline Global Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Inspire Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 56.8% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 87,138 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,289,000 after purchasing an additional 31,567 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 1,004.5% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,934,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,618,000 after purchasing an additional 1,759,782 shares during the period. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 137.4% during the 4th quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 259,736 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,841,000 after purchasing an additional 150,336 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 47.0% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 83,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,239,000 after purchasing an additional 26,779 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 2,781.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 319,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,732,000 after purchasing an additional 308,822 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Silvio Jose Morais sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 21,000 shares in the company, valued at $237,090. This trade represents a 30.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 11.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented 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. BTIG Research dropped their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $22.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $20.00 to $16.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.58.

StoneCo Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:STNE opened at $10.77 on Thursday. StoneCo Ltd. has a 1 year low of $9.45 and a 1 year high of $19.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.20 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. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $11.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.07.

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

StoneCo Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a special dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 24th were given a dividend of $2.53 per share. 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.