StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Lifted to "Strong-Buy" at Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Thursday, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on STNE. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of StoneCo from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and set a $20.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley reissued an underweight rating and set a $7.00 price objective (down from $16.50) on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of StoneCo from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, StoneCo has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $17.80.

StoneCo Stock Performance

STNE stock traded up $0.35 during trading on Thursday, hitting $11.33. The company had a trading volume of 2,492,099 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,363,800. The firm has a market cap of $3.56 billion, a PE ratio of 9.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.31. StoneCo has a 1-year low of $9.34 and a 1-year high of $19.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $12.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.04). StoneCo had a net margin of 15.27% and a return on equity of 13.21%. The company had revenue of $615.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $590.74 million. On average, analysts expect that StoneCo will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of StoneCo

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in StoneCo during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,008,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in StoneCo in the 1st quarter valued at $33,139,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in StoneCo by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,636,619 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,794,000 after buying an additional 88,256 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in StoneCo by 10.2% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 8,386,945 shares of the company's stock valued at $100,559,000 after buying an additional 779,445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd grew its stake in StoneCo by 123.4% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 251,993 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,021,000 after buying an additional 139,182 shares during the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About StoneCo

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.