Nuveen Asset Management LLC Boosts Position in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) by 40.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,993,611 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,008,710 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned 2.26% of StoneCo worth $55,739,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in StoneCo by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 21,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $168,000 after acquiring an additional 1,205 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its holdings in StoneCo by 31.6% during the fourth quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 7,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Aviva PLC grew its holdings in StoneCo by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 176,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,410,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in StoneCo by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 20,781 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,000 after purchasing an additional 2,044 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential PLC grew its holdings in StoneCo by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 15,051 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,000 after purchasing an additional 2,656 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

StoneCo Stock Performance

NASDAQ STNE opened at $13.36 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.01. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $11.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.22. StoneCo Ltd. has a twelve month low of $7.72 and a twelve month high of $15.23.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $625.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.68 billion. StoneCo had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 16.02%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on STNE shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised StoneCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citigroup raised StoneCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $9.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on StoneCo from $5.70 to $6.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on StoneCo from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, StoneCo has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $15.63.

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.