StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Sets New 12-Month Low – What’s Next?

Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) hit a new 52-week low on Monday. The company traded as low as $7.04 and last traded at $7.4590, with a volume of 4,427,751 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $11.48.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on STNE shares. Bank of America downgraded shares of StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of StoneCo from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on StoneCo in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $12.60 target price for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, StoneCo presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.30.

StoneCo Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.02. The company has a market capitalization of $2.01 billion, a PE ratio of 3.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $129.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $708.24 million. StoneCo had a return on equity of 22.19% and a net margin of 22.92%. As a group, research analysts expect that StoneCo Ltd. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other StoneCo news, Director Silvio Morais sold 21,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.91, for a total transaction of $208,110.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StoneCo

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda boosted its position in shares of StoneCo by 47.6% in the 1st quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 7,728,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,120,000 after purchasing an additional 2,491,394 shares during the period. BRC Global BAH Investments Ltd. grew its position in StoneCo by 32.7% during the 1st quarter. BRC Global BAH Investments Ltd. now owns 7,580,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,035,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867,018 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 559.3% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 6,885,009 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,306,000 after buying an additional 5,840,741 shares during the last quarter. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 435.5% in the first quarter. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 6,662,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,071,000 after buying an additional 5,418,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of StoneCo by 151.7% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,032,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,180,000 after buying an additional 3,636,276 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

About StoneCo

StoneCo Ltd. is a financial technology company that provides payment processing and business-management solutions primarily to small and medium-sized businesses in Brazil. Through its Stone brand, the company enables merchants to accept payments in physical stores and online, including card, digital-wallet and other electronic transactions.

Its products and services include point-of-sale terminals, payment gateways, transaction processing, digital banking and financial-account services, as well as working-capital and other credit solutions for eligible merchants.