StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Rating Lowered to “Neutral” at Citigroup

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) was downgraded by investment analysts at Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Friday, Marketbeat reports. They presently have a $11.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 13.40% from the company’s current price.

STNE has been the subject of several other research reports. Santander cut StoneCo from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on StoneCo from $19.50 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of StoneCo from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of StoneCo from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.17.

StoneCo Stock Up 0.1%

STNE stock opened at $9.70 on Friday. StoneCo has a 52-week low of $9.60 and a 52-week high of $19.95. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.73.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42. StoneCo had a net margin of 15.38% and a return on equity of 21.55%. The firm had revenue of $141.16 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $675.11 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that StoneCo will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StoneCo

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of STNE. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 1st quarter valued at about $902,000. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in StoneCo during the first quarter worth approximately $70,000. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in StoneCo by 37.4% during the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 28,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $450,000 after purchasing an additional 7,635 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of StoneCo by 8.3% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 256,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,109,000 after purchasing an additional 19,723 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of StoneCo by 10.0% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 13,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 1,273 shares during the period. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.