StoneCo Ltd. $STNE Shares Acquired by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) by 34.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,856,536 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,251,385 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 1.70% of StoneCo worth $71,637,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. BRC Global BAH Investments Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo during the 4th quarter worth approximately $84,501,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in StoneCo by 32.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,415,683 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,308,000 after acquiring an additional 1,085,506 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. increased its position in StoneCo by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 3,387,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,064,000 after acquiring an additional 56,837 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new stake in StoneCo in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $58,017,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in StoneCo by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,515,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,209,000 after acquiring an additional 507,431 shares during the period. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Citigroup cut StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $18.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Friday, May 15th. BTIG Research lowered their target price on StoneCo from $22.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research upgraded StoneCo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on StoneCo from $20.00 to $16.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.58.

StoneCo Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of STNE stock opened at $10.57 on Tuesday. StoneCo Ltd. has a 1 year low of $9.45 and a 1 year high of $19.95. The stock has a market cap of $2.63 billion, a PE ratio of 4.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 1.73. The business’s fifty day moving average is $12.32 and its 200-day moving average is $14.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.33.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.42. StoneCo had a return on equity of 21.05% and a net margin of 23.82%.The company had revenue of $141.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $675.11 million. Equities analysts expect that StoneCo Ltd. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StoneCo Announces Dividend

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

StoneCo 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.