StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Trading Down 7% on Analyst Downgrade

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)’s share price was down 7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Susquehanna lowered their price target on the stock from $22.00 to $19.00. Susquehanna currently has a positive rating on the stock. StoneCo traded as low as $10.69 and last traded at $10.78. Approximately 748,343 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 5,061,006 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.59.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of StoneCo from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of StoneCo to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $7.00 price objective (down previously from $16.50) on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.40.

Institutional Trading of StoneCo

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 23.7% in the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 36,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $409,000 after acquiring an additional 6,947 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in StoneCo by 584.9% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,339,972 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,088,000 after buying an additional 1,144,341 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in StoneCo during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,154,000. Swiss National Bank acquired a new position in StoneCo during the 3rd quarter valued at about $6,419,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in StoneCo by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 19,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 1,773 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

StoneCo Price Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $11.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.83. The company has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.73, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.36.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $615.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $590.74 million. StoneCo had a return on equity of 13.21% and a net margin of 15.27%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About StoneCo

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.