KBC Group NV Acquires New Holdings in StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

KBC Group NV acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 81,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,205,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of STNE. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new position in StoneCo in the 3rd quarter valued at about $58,017,000. Ninety One UK Ltd grew its position in StoneCo by 218.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 4,234,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,070,000 after buying an additional 2,904,432 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. grew its position in StoneCo by 237.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. now owns 1,593,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,125,000 after buying an additional 1,120,715 shares in the last quarter. Man Group plc bought a new position in StoneCo in the 2nd quarter valued at about $13,329,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in StoneCo by 91.6% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,431,208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,064,000 after buying an additional 684,332 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

StoneCo Price Performance

Shares of StoneCo stock opened at $15.40 on Tuesday. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $14.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.85. StoneCo Ltd. has a 52 week low of $11.95 and a 52 week high of $19.95. The stock has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a PE ratio of 10.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.89.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. StoneCo had a net margin of 15.38% and a return on equity of 21.55%. The firm had revenue of $675.42 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $704.26 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StoneCo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a special dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 24th will be given a $2.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 24th.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STNE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of StoneCo from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of StoneCo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Santander lowered shares of StoneCo from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of StoneCo from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, StoneCo has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.29.

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.