Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 3,063 Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) by 13.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,455 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,063 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in StoneCo were worth $163,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of StoneCo by 36.2% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 11,422,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,617,000 after acquiring an additional 3,035,530 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of StoneCo by 51.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,972,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,765,000 after acquiring an additional 2,692,558 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of StoneCo by 36.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,190,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,302,000 after acquiring an additional 1,374,788 shares during the last quarter. Truxt Investmentos Ltda. bought a new stake in StoneCo in the third quarter valued at about $31,695,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in StoneCo by 37.2% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,689,839 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,028,000 after purchasing an additional 457,856 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

StoneCo Trading Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ STNE opened at $9.71 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $8.96 and its 200-day moving average is $10.19. StoneCo Ltd. has a one year low of $7.72 and a one year high of $17.93.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

STNE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $9.00 price objective (down previously from $19.00) on shares of StoneCo in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on StoneCo from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, StoneCo presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.38.

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.