StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $18.87, but opened at $17.17. StoneCo shares last traded at $17.1180, with a volume of 2,330,382 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on STNE shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of StoneCo to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of StoneCo from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. UBS Group lifted their price target on StoneCo from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on StoneCo from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.44.

StoneCo Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average of $18.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The company has a market cap of $4.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -23.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 2.01.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. StoneCo had a positive return on equity of 18.71% and a negative net margin of 8.37%.The firm had revenue of $643.82 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.78 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StoneCo

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of STNE. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. lifted its stake in shares of StoneCo by 3.1% during the first quarter. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 11,982,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,581,000 after buying an additional 359,037 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in StoneCo in the 1st quarter worth $70,502,000. Azora Capital LP raised its stake in StoneCo by 88.2% in the 2nd quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 4,863,331 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,008,000 after acquiring an additional 2,279,821 shares during the last quarter. JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda. grew its stake in StoneCo by 484.8% during the 1st quarter. JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda. now owns 4,472,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,707,941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 218.4% in the third quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 4,234,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,070,000 after purchasing an additional 2,904,432 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

About StoneCo

StoneCo Ltd. provides financial technology and software solutions to merchants and integrated partners to conduct electronic commerce across in-store, online, and mobile channels in Brazil. It distributes its solutions, principally through proprietary Stone Hubs, which offer hyper-local sales and services; and sells solutions to brick-and-mortar and digital merchants through sales team.