Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Increases Stock Position in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) by 22.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 235,237 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,521 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned approximately 0.08% of StoneCo worth $1,875,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in StoneCo during the 4th quarter valued at $22,642,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in StoneCo by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,696,729 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,523,000 after acquiring an additional 116,050 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its holdings in StoneCo by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 86,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $691,000 after acquiring an additional 3,296 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its position in StoneCo by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 23,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,000 after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 87,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $694,000 after purchasing an additional 11,871 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

StoneCo Stock Down 7.1 %

Shares of STNE opened at $10.58 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $9.87 and its 200 day moving average is $9.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. StoneCo Ltd. has a 12-month low of $7.72 and a 12-month high of $17.93. The company has a market capitalization of $3.27 billion, a PE ratio of 8.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.05.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last released 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 firm had revenue of $582.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.59 billion. StoneCo had a net margin of 16.02% and a return on equity of 13.92%. Research analysts expect that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.