Zacks Investment Management Purchases 30,825 Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)

Zacks Investment Management grew its position in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE - Free Report) by 32.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 127,068 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 30,825 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management's holdings in StoneCo were worth $1,013,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in STNE. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of StoneCo by 254.7% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,256 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 3,056 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of StoneCo by 627.0% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 4,551 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 3,925 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of StoneCo by 166.7% during the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,400 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 4th quarter valued at $56,000. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its position in shares of StoneCo by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 7,500 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StoneCo Trading Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ:STNE traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $13.30. 1,794,545 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,673,837. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $10.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42. StoneCo Ltd. has a 12-month low of $7.72 and a 12-month high of $17.09.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $582.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.59 billion. StoneCo had a net margin of 16.02% and a return on equity of 13.92%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of StoneCo from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of StoneCo from $5.70 to $6.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of StoneCo from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of StoneCo from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $15.38.

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.