StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Shares Bought by HighVista Strategies LLC

HighVista Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) by 36.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 95,130 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 25,300 shares during the period. HighVista Strategies LLC’s holdings in StoneCo were worth $1,141,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its stake in StoneCo by 327.2% during the second quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,239,957 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,867,000 after acquiring an additional 949,671 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new stake in StoneCo during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,458,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in StoneCo by 2,445.5% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,287,353 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,151,000 after buying an additional 2,197,495 shares during the period. Fourth Sail Capital LP acquired a new position in StoneCo during the second quarter valued at approximately $21,323,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in StoneCo during the second quarter worth approximately $3,435,000. 73.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StoneCo Price Performance

NASDAQ STNE opened at $11.30 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $12.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.19. The stock has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 2.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. StoneCo Ltd. has a 52 week low of $9.34 and a 52 week high of $19.46.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported $0.30 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 business had revenue of $615.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $590.74 million. Analysts forecast that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.1 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on STNE shares. Barclays cut their target price on shares of StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group raised their price objective on StoneCo from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on StoneCo from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.80.

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.