Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE)

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders acquired 9,352 call options on the company. This is an increase of 329% compared to the average daily volume of 2,180 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on STNE shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Monday, September 14th. UBS Group reduced their price target on StoneCo from $15.00 to $13.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 28th. Bank of America cut StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on StoneCo in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $12.60 price objective for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, StoneCo presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Silvio Morais sold 21,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.91, for a total value of $208,110.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StoneCo

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Andra AP fonden lifted its stake in StoneCo by 159.5% in the second quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 1,593,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,275,000 after acquiring an additional 979,400 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of StoneCo during the second quarter worth approximately $139,000. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in StoneCo in the 2nd quarter valued at $480,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo in the second quarter valued at about $156,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in shares of StoneCo during the second quarter worth approximately $8,040,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

StoneCo Trading Up 0.7%

STNE opened at $11.62 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.68. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.23. StoneCo has a 12 month low of $8.95 and a 12 month high of $19.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. StoneCo had a return on equity of 22.19% and a net margin of 22.92%.The company had revenue of $129.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $708.24 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that StoneCo will post 2.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StoneCo Company Profile

StoneCo Ltd. is a Brazilian financial technology company that provides payment processing, banking and business-management solutions to entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized businesses. Its services are designed to help merchants accept electronic payments, manage cash flow and operate their businesses through integrated digital tools.

The company’s offerings include point-of-sale and mobile payment solutions, online payment processing, digital banking services, working-capital and credit products, and software for retail and other business operations.