National Pension Service Makes New Investment in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)

National Pension Service purchased a new position in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 81,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $915,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of StoneCo by 204.1% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 7,741,662 shares of the company's stock worth $92,823,000 after purchasing an additional 5,195,787 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in StoneCo by 2,445.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,287,353 shares of the company's stock worth $27,151,000 after buying an additional 2,197,495 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in StoneCo during the first quarter valued at about $33,139,000. American Century Companies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo in the second quarter worth about $23,483,000. Finally, Fourth Sail Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo in the second quarter worth approximately $21,323,000. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on STNE. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised StoneCo to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays lowered their price target on StoneCo from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $7.00 price objective (down from $16.50) on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, StoneCo currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $17.70.

StoneCo Stock Down 0.4 %

STNE stock traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $11.30. The stock had a trading volume of 3,123,135 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,082,451. StoneCo Ltd. has a 1-year low of $10.20 and a 1-year high of $19.46. The company has a fifty day moving average of $11.48 and a 200 day moving average of $12.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.19, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 2.29.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.04). The business 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StoneCo 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.