Investors Buy High Volume of StoneCo Call Options (NASDAQ:STNE)

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors bought 8,575 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 41% compared to the typical daily volume of 6,092 call options.

StoneCo Stock Performance

Shares of StoneCo stock traded up $1.39 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $11.24. The company had a trading volume of 10,606,197 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,453,176. StoneCo has a one year low of $7.72 and a one year high of $17.93. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.96. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a PE ratio of 8.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.33.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.07. StoneCo had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 16.02%. The firm had revenue of $582.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.59 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that StoneCo will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on STNE shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $9.00 price objective (down from $19.00) on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays lowered their price objective on StoneCo from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, StoneCo has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.38.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StoneCo

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in STNE. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the fourth quarter worth $367,000. Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the fourth quarter worth $106,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of StoneCo by 58.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,278,508 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,190,000 after buying an additional 471,117 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of StoneCo by 13,279.6% in the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 1,813,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,454,000 after buying an additional 1,800,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wexford Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the fourth quarter worth $88,000. 73.19% of the stock is owned by 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.