StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Shares Down 7% Following Analyst Downgrade

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) was down 7% during trading on Wednesday after Susquehanna lowered their price target on the stock from $22.00 to $19.00. Susquehanna currently has a positive rating on the stock. StoneCo traded as low as $10.69 and last traded at $10.78. Approximately 748,343 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 5,061,006 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.59.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on STNE. UBS Group lifted their price target on StoneCo from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays dropped their price target 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. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded StoneCo to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $7.00 price target (down previously from $16.50) on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.40.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StoneCo

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of STNE. Central Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 1st quarter valued at about $41,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its stake 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 purchased a new position in StoneCo in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $125,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in StoneCo in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $135,000. 73.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StoneCo Stock Down 9.6 %

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 50 day simple moving average of $11.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.24 billion, a PE ratio of 8.19, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.29.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $615.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $590.74 million. StoneCo had a return on equity of 13.69% and a net margin of 16.02%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current 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.