StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Sets New 52-Week Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday after Susquehanna lowered their price target on the stock from $22.00 to $19.00. Susquehanna currently has a positive rating on the stock. StoneCo traded as low as $10.16 and last traded at $10.24, with a volume of 745167 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $10.48.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on STNE. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of StoneCo from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of StoneCo from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $7.00 price target (down previously from $16.50) on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of StoneCo to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.40.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StoneCo

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Perspectives Inc grew its holdings in StoneCo by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 14,019 shares of the company’s stock valued at $168,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in StoneCo by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 19,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 1,773 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in StoneCo by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 123,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 1,848 shares in the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd grew its holdings in StoneCo by 90.2% during the 2nd quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 4,798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 2,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in StoneCo during the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

StoneCo Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $11.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 2.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.42.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last released its quarterly 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 16.02% and a return on equity of 13.92%. The firm had revenue of $615.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $590.74 million. Analysts forecast that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current year.

About StoneCo

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.