Banco BTG Pactual S.A. Invests $2.81 Million in StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

Banco BTG Pactual S.A. purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 190,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,810,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. IFM Investors Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of StoneCo during the 4th quarter worth approximately $217,000. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of StoneCo by 543.7% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,482,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,934,000 after acquiring an additional 1,252,609 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of StoneCo by 121.1% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 210,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,109,000 after acquiring an additional 115,110 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of StoneCo by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 13,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,000 after acquiring an additional 1,207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CenterBook Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of StoneCo by 298.1% during the 4th quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 88,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,311,000 after acquiring an additional 66,357 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

StoneCo Trading Up 6.1%

Shares of StoneCo stock opened at $11.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.33. StoneCo Ltd. has a 1 year low of $9.45 and a 1 year high of $19.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 1.73. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $12.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.20.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $675.11 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that StoneCo Ltd. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StoneCo Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a special dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 4th. Investors of record on Friday, April 24th were given a dividend of $2.53 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 24th.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. BTIG Research decreased their price target on StoneCo from $22.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 15th. UBS Group decreased their price target on StoneCo from $19.50 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on StoneCo from $20.00 to $16.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Citigroup lowered StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $11.00 in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.58.

StoneCo Company 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.