StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its stake in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) by 24.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,758,773 shares of the company’s stock after selling 568,083 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in StoneCo were worth $14,017,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 254.7% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 3,056 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in StoneCo by 166.7% during the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in StoneCo during the fourth quarter worth about $56,000. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 7,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo in the 4th quarter valued at about $73,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

StoneCo Stock Performance

StoneCo stock opened at $11.95 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42. StoneCo Ltd. has a 12 month low of $7.72 and a 12 month high of $17.09. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $10.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.87. The company has a market cap of $3.69 billion, a PE ratio of 9.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.05.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates 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 year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on STNE shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of StoneCo from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of StoneCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on StoneCo from $5.70 to $6.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $9.00 target price (down previously from $19.00) on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average 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.