StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Downgraded to “Strong Sell” Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

STNE has been the topic of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut 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. Wall Street Zen cut StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Santander downgraded StoneCo from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on StoneCo from $20.00 to $19.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, StoneCo presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.86.

StoneCo Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of STNE opened at $16.75 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a PE ratio of -31.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.81. StoneCo has a 12-month low of $8.64 and a 12-month high of $19.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.43. The firm had revenue of $669.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $669.81 million. StoneCo had a positive return on equity of 20.18% and a negative net margin of 7.28%. As a group, research analysts predict that StoneCo will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StoneCo

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 860 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 4.9% during the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 19,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $375,000 after acquiring an additional 925 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in StoneCo by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 220,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,177,000 after acquiring an additional 978 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in StoneCo by 13.0% during the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 9,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its stake in shares of StoneCo by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 18,399 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 1,140 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.