StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Stock Sees Heavy Call Option Buying

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 9,965 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 186% compared to the average volume of 3,482 call options.

StoneCo Price Performance

NASDAQ STNE opened at $7.75 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.93 billion, a PE ratio of 3.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.22 and a beta of 1.68. StoneCo has a 12-month low of $7.06 and a 12-month high of $19.45. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $10.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $129.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $708.24 million. StoneCo had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 22.19%. As a group, equities analysts predict that StoneCo will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at StoneCo

In related news, Director Silvio Morais sold 21,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.91, for a total value of $208,110.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 11.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of StoneCo

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda raised its stake in StoneCo by 47.6% during the 1st quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 7,728,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,120,000 after purchasing an additional 2,491,394 shares during the last quarter. BRC Global BAH Investments Ltd. boosted its holdings in StoneCo by 32.7% during the first quarter. BRC Global BAH Investments Ltd. now owns 7,580,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,035,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867,018 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 559.3% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 6,885,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,306,000 after purchasing an additional 5,840,741 shares during the last quarter. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. grew its position in StoneCo by 435.5% during the 1st quarter. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 6,662,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,071,000 after acquiring an additional 5,418,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 151.7% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,032,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,180,000 after purchasing an additional 3,636,276 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STNE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America downgraded StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of StoneCo from $11.00 to $9.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings raised StoneCo from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $12.60 target price on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, StoneCo has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.94.

About StoneCo

StoneCo Ltd. is a financial technology company that provides payment processing and business-management solutions primarily to small and medium-sized businesses in Brazil. Through its Stone brand, the company enables merchants to accept payments in physical stores and online, including card, digital-wallet and other electronic transactions.

Its products and services include point-of-sale terminals, payment gateways, transaction processing, digital banking and financial-account services, as well as working-capital and other credit solutions for eligible merchants.