JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Price Target to $20.00

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) had its price objective lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $21.00 to $20.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on STNE. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of StoneCo in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Zacks Research upgraded StoneCo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. UBS Group reduced their price target on StoneCo from $19.50 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded StoneCo from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, StoneCo currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.29.

StoneCo Price Performance

STNE opened at $15.10 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $4.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.89. StoneCo has a 12-month low of $11.95 and a 12-month high of $19.95.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 3rd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $675.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $704.26 million. StoneCo had a return on equity of 21.55% and a net margin of 15.38%. Research analysts predict that StoneCo will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StoneCo Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a special dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 24th will be issued a dividend of $2.53 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 24th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StoneCo

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 11,473.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,721 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of StoneCo during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new position in shares of StoneCo during the third quarter valued at $37,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 74.1% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 936 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc bought a new stake in StoneCo in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.