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 brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $16.13.

Several research analysts have weighed in on STNE shares. Barclays lowered their target price on StoneCo from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $7.00 price objective (down from $16.50) on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of StoneCo to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp increased 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 buying an additional 2,692,558 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC acquired a new stake in StoneCo in the 3rd quarter valued at about $9,091,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in StoneCo during the 3rd quarter valued at about $716,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in StoneCo by 313.4% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 472,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,323,000 after acquiring an additional 358,398 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its position in StoneCo by 584.9% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,339,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,088,000 after acquiring an additional 1,144,341 shares during the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StoneCo Stock Performance

Shares of STNE stock opened at $8.04 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $10.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.78. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.48 billion, a PE ratio of 6.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 2.21. StoneCo has a 52-week low of $8.02 and a 52-week high of $19.46.

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.