StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.02, FiscalAI reports. StoneCo had a negative net margin of 7.28% and a positive return on equity of 20.18%. The company had revenue of $675.42 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $704.26 million.

StoneCo Stock Performance

NASDAQ STNE traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $17.03. The company had a trading volume of 7,929,345 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,184,044. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.63. StoneCo has a fifty-two week low of $8.64 and a fifty-two week 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. The stock has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.81.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StoneCo

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda raised its stake in StoneCo by 1,054.8% during the fourth quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 5,236,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,450,000 after acquiring an additional 4,783,158 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the 3rd quarter valued at $58,017,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 1,004.5% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,934,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,618,000 after purchasing an additional 1,759,782 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of StoneCo by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,714,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,440,760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in StoneCo by 543.7% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,482,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,934,000 after purchasing an additional 1,252,609 shares during the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on STNE. Santander downgraded shares of StoneCo from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. BTIG Research assumed coverage on StoneCo in a report on Monday, February 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group reduced their target price on StoneCo from $20.00 to $19.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Zacks Research downgraded StoneCo from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.50.

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.