StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Shares Up 4.7% – Still a Buy?

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) was up 4.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $10.21 and last traded at $10.2850. Approximately 826,573 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 5,337,556 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.82.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on STNE shares. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $12.60 price target for the company. UBS Group lowered their price objective on StoneCo from $15.00 to $13.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 28th. Weiss Ratings downgraded StoneCo from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. BTIG Research reduced their target price on StoneCo from $22.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Bank of America cut StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, StoneCo currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.30.

StoneCo Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $10.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a PE ratio of 4.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.75.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. StoneCo had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 22.19%. The firm had revenue of $129.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $708.24 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that StoneCo Ltd. will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other StoneCo news, Director Silvio Morais sold 21,000 shares of StoneCo stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.91, for a total value of $208,110.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 11.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of StoneCo

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of STNE. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda increased its position in StoneCo by 47.6% during the first quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 7,728,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,120,000 after acquiring an additional 2,491,394 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in StoneCo by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,714,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,440,760 shares during the last quarter. BRC Global BAH Investments Ltd. grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 32.7% during the 1st quarter. BRC Global BAH Investments Ltd. now owns 7,580,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,035,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867,018 shares during the period. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. increased its position in shares of StoneCo by 435.5% during the 1st quarter. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 6,662,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,071,000 after purchasing an additional 5,418,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of StoneCo by 151.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,032,572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,180,000 after purchasing an additional 3,636,276 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

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.