National Pension Service Takes Position in StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

National Pension Service bought a new stake in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 64,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $953,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in STNE. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $902,000. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $70,000. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 37.4% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 28,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $450,000 after purchasing an additional 7,635 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 256,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,109,000 after purchasing an additional 19,723 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 13,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 1,273 shares in the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on STNE. Weiss Ratings raised shares of StoneCo from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of StoneCo from $19.50 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. BTIG Research dropped their price target on shares of StoneCo from $22.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research raised shares of StoneCo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of StoneCo from $20.00 to $16.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.58.

StoneCo Price Performance

StoneCo stock opened at $11.69 on Tuesday. StoneCo Ltd. has a 52-week low of $9.45 and a 52-week high of $19.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.68, a PEG ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42. StoneCo had a net margin of 23.82% and a return on equity of 21.05%. The business had revenue of $141.16 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $675.11 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that StoneCo Ltd. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StoneCo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a special dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 24th were issued a dividend of $2.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 24th.

About StoneCo

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.