StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $9.27, but opened at $9.90. StoneCo shares last traded at $10.13, with a volume of 2,313,859 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on STNE shares. Barclays lowered their price objective on StoneCo from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised StoneCo to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Susquehanna reduced their target price on StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $7.00 target price (down previously from $16.50) on shares of StoneCo in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on StoneCo from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, StoneCo currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.89.

StoneCo Stock Up 10.7 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $3.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 2.29. The company has a fifty day moving average of $11.05 and a 200 day moving average of $12.48.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StoneCo

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of STNE. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of StoneCo by 36.2% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 11,422,475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,617,000 after acquiring an additional 3,035,530 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of StoneCo by 51.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,972,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,765,000 after acquiring an additional 2,692,558 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of StoneCo by 204.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 7,741,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,823,000 after acquiring an additional 5,195,787 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of StoneCo by 36.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,190,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,302,000 after acquiring an additional 1,374,788 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. lifted its position in shares of StoneCo by 43.4% in the third quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 3,673,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,363,000 after acquiring an additional 1,111,065 shares in the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.