StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Meets Expectations

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.46, FiscalAI reports. The company had revenue of $129.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $708.24 million. StoneCo had a net margin of 23.82% and a return on equity of 21.05%.

StoneCo Stock Performance

NASDAQ:STNE traded up $0.23 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $10.23. 7,648,170 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,154,293. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $10.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.93. StoneCo has a 12 month low of $9.45 and a 12 month high of $19.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Silvio Jose Morais sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.29, for a total transaction of $101,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 21,000 shares in the company, valued at $237,090. The trade was a 30.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 11.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of StoneCo

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 4th quarter worth about $215,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of StoneCo by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 282,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,177,000 after buying an additional 27,637 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of StoneCo by 193.9% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 44,831 shares of the company’s stock valued at $674,000 after buying an additional 29,578 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in StoneCo during the fourth quarter worth about $4,626,000. Finally, Zacks Investment Management grew its position in StoneCo by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 124,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,834,000 after buying an additional 8,909 shares in the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on STNE shares. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on StoneCo in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $12.60 target price on the stock. BTIG Research decreased their price target on StoneCo from $22.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings downgraded StoneCo from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on StoneCo from $20.00 to $16.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, StoneCo has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.59.

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.