StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $17.70.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $7.00 target price (down previously from $16.50) on shares of StoneCo in a report on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group lifted their target price on StoneCo from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded StoneCo to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on StoneCo from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo in the first quarter worth about $41,000. Central Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo in the second quarter worth about $40,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd lifted its stake in shares of StoneCo by 90.2% in the second quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 4,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 2,275 shares in the last quarter. Invst LLC acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo in the first quarter worth about $172,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo in the third quarter worth about $125,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

StoneCo Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:STNE opened at $11.03 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 2.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. StoneCo has a 52 week low of $10.20 and a 52 week high of $19.46. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.01.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.04). StoneCo had a net margin of 15.27% and a return on equity of 13.21%. The firm had revenue of $615.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $590.74 million. Equities research analysts forecast that StoneCo will post 1.21 EPS for the current year.

StoneCo Company Profile

StoneCo Ltd. provides financial technology and software solutions to merchants and integrated partners to conduct electronic commerce across in-store, online, and mobile channels in Brazil. It distributes its solutions, principally through proprietary Stone Hubs, which offer hyper-local sales and services; and sells solutions to brick-and-mortar and digital merchants through sales team.