StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $14.38.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of StoneCo from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $9.00 target price (down previously from $19.00) on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th.

StoneCo Stock Performance

STNE stock opened at $9.22 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.75. The company has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.20, a PEG ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 2.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. StoneCo has a fifty-two week low of $7.72 and a fifty-two week high of $19.46.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StoneCo

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in STNE. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in StoneCo by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 123,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 1,848 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in StoneCo by 233.7% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 117,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,318,000 after buying an additional 82,003 shares during the period. Constellation Investimentos e Participacoes Ltda lifted its stake in StoneCo by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. Constellation Investimentos e Participacoes Ltda now owns 3,047,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,316,000 after acquiring an additional 703,249 shares in the last quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc acquired a new stake in StoneCo during the 3rd quarter worth about $773,000. Finally, Creative Planning grew its stake in StoneCo by 224.9% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 65,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $736,000 after acquiring an additional 45,218 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

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.