StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Trading 3.2% Higher – Should You Buy?

Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) were up 3.2% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $11.15 and last traded at $11.07. Approximately 1,056,812 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 5,552,015 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.73.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $9.00 target price (down previously from $19.00) on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised StoneCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $5.70 to $6.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, StoneCo currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.50.

StoneCo Stock Up 5.2 %

The firm has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.82, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.33. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $9.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42.

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

Institutional Trading of StoneCo

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in StoneCo by 254.7% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 3,056 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its position in StoneCo by 627.0% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 4,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 3,925 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in StoneCo by 166.7% during the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in StoneCo in the fourth quarter worth $56,000. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its position in StoneCo by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 7,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the period. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.