StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $18.80.

STNE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group cut shares of StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of StoneCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $12.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of StoneCo from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of StoneCo from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th.

Institutional Trading of StoneCo

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. 1832 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo during the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $56,000. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

StoneCo Price Performance

NASDAQ STNE opened at $15.25 on Friday. StoneCo has a 52 week low of $9.34 and a 52 week high of $19.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market cap of $4.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.10 and a beta of 2.34. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $16.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.30.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 18th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. StoneCo had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 11.23%. The firm had revenue of $655.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $468.47 million. Analysts forecast that StoneCo will post 1.3 EPS 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.