Jain Global LLC Acquires 609,627 Shares of StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

Jain Global LLC raised its holdings in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) by 381.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 769,596 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 609,627 shares during the quarter. Jain Global LLC owned 0.27% of StoneCo worth $14,553,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of STNE. Ninety One UK Ltd increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,904,432 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in StoneCo during the second quarter worth $44,366,000. Azora Capital LP grew its holdings in StoneCo by 88.2% in the second quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 4,863,331 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,008,000 after purchasing an additional 2,279,821 shares during the period. Tekne Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in StoneCo in the second quarter worth $35,288,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in StoneCo in the second quarter valued at $34,768,000. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

StoneCo Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:STNE opened at $13.81 on Monday. StoneCo Ltd. has a 52 week low of $9.32 and a 52 week high of $19.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $15.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market cap of $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 1.77.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $675.42 million for 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on STNE. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of StoneCo from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on StoneCo from $19.50 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded StoneCo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, StoneCo presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.44.

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.