StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the ten analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $17.70.

STNE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays decreased their target price on StoneCo from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on StoneCo from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of StoneCo to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $7.00 target price (down previously from $16.50) on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, September 5th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StoneCo

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Central Bank & Trust Co. bought a new stake in StoneCo in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its position in StoneCo by 90.2% in the 2nd quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 4,798 shares of the company's stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 2,275 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd bought a new stake in StoneCo in the third quarter worth $125,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in StoneCo during the second quarter valued at about $135,000. Institutional investors own 73.19% of the company's stock.

StoneCo Stock Performance

STNE traded down $0.24 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $11.27. 2,790,873 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,114,645. StoneCo has a one year low of $9.68 and a one year high of $19.46. The stock's fifty day moving average is $11.76 and its 200 day moving average is $13.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 2.30.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $615.13 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $590.74 million. StoneCo had a net margin of 15.27% and a return on equity of 13.21%. As a group, equities analysts predict that StoneCo will post 1.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StoneCo Company Profile

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.