Hsbc Holdings PLC Acquires 356,201 Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)

Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) by 31.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,498,316 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 356,201 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned approximately 0.48% of StoneCo worth $12,024,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in StoneCo by 327.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,580,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,798,000 after acquiring an additional 1,210,817 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 170.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 440,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,962,000 after purchasing an additional 277,963 shares during the last quarter. Commons Capital LLC acquired a new position in StoneCo during the 4th quarter worth approximately $383,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in StoneCo by 34.2% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 45,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,000 after purchasing an additional 11,605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in StoneCo in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $312,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STNE has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup upgraded StoneCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $9.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of 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 decreased their price target on shares of StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of StoneCo from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised StoneCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $15.38.

StoneCo Stock Performance

STNE stock opened at $13.75 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $10.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.95. StoneCo Ltd. has a 1-year low of $7.72 and a 1-year high of $17.09. The firm has a market cap of $4.25 billion, a PE ratio of 10.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.05. 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 (NASDAQ:STNE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $582.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.59 billion. StoneCo had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 16.02%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 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.