StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Director Silvio Jose Morais Sells 9,000 Shares

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Director Silvio Jose Morais sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.29, for a total value of $101,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 21,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $237,090. This trade represents a 30.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

StoneCo Stock Performance

StoneCo stock traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $11.28. 861,193 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,604,065. StoneCo Ltd. has a twelve month low of $9.45 and a twelve month high of $19.95. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $14.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.33. The firm has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a PE ratio of 4.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.73.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42. StoneCo had a return on equity of 21.05% and a net margin of 23.82%.The company had revenue of $141.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $675.11 million. Equities analysts predict that StoneCo Ltd. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StoneCo Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a special dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 24th were given a dividend of $2.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 24th.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on STNE. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Citigroup cut StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $18.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research raised StoneCo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on StoneCo from $19.50 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on StoneCo from $20.00 to $16.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.58.

Institutional Trading of StoneCo

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 11,473.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 1,721 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 74.1% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 936 shares during the period. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

StoneCo Company Profile

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.