StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Rating Lowered to Neutral at Bank of America

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) was downgraded by research analysts at Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $13.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 15.04% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on STNE. Citigroup cut shares of StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $11.00 in a research note on Friday, May 15th. BTIG Research reduced their target price on shares of StoneCo from $22.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of StoneCo from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of StoneCo from $20.00 to $16.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, StoneCo currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.58.

StoneCo Stock Performance

Shares of STNE opened at $11.30 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.52, a PEG ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 1.73. StoneCo has a twelve month low of $9.45 and a twelve month high of $19.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.33. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $10.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.49.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.42. StoneCo had a net margin of 23.82% and a return on equity of 21.05%. The business had revenue of $141.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $675.11 million. On average, analysts forecast that StoneCo will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other StoneCo news, Director Silvio Jose Morais sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.29, for a total transaction of $101,610.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 21,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $237,090. The trade was a 30.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StoneCo

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BRC Global BAH Investments Ltd. acquired a new stake in StoneCo during the fourth quarter worth approximately $84,501,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in StoneCo by 131.5% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 219,614 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,248,000 after acquiring an additional 124,734 shares in the last quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. raised its holdings in StoneCo by 71.7% in the 4th quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 2,499,733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043,464 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank bought a new stake in shares of StoneCo during the 4th quarter valued at $3,546,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in shares of StoneCo by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,515,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,209,000 after acquiring an additional 507,431 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

About StoneCo

StoneCo Ltd., commonly known as Stone, is a Brazilian financial technology company that provides integrated digital payment solutions and related financial services to merchants. Through its cloud-based platform, Stone enables businesses of all sizes to accept a variety of payment methods, including point-of-sale (POS) terminals, mobile card readers and e-commerce gateways. In addition to payment acceptance, the company offers value-added services such as working capital loans, digital banking products and automated billing tools designed to help merchants manage cash flow and streamline operations.

Since its founding in 2012 by André Street and Eduardo Pontes, Stone has focused on serving over half a million merchants across Brazil’s retail, restaurant and services sectors.