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

Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $14.50.

STNE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $9.00 price target (down previously from $19.00) on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on StoneCo from $5.70 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StoneCo

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position 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 during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 23.7% during the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 36,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $409,000 after acquiring an additional 6,947 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in StoneCo by 18.8% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 146,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,649,000 after acquiring an additional 23,167 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in StoneCo by 466.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 64,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $726,000 after purchasing an additional 53,106 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in StoneCo by 313.4% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 472,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,323,000 after purchasing an additional 358,398 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

StoneCo Stock Up 1.5 %

STNE stock opened at $10.73 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $9.77 and its 200 day moving average is $9.90. The stock has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. StoneCo has a 1-year low of $7.72 and a 1-year high of $17.93.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.07. StoneCo had a net margin of 16.02% and a return on equity of 13.92%. The firm had revenue of $582.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.59 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that StoneCo will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal 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.