StoneCo Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:STNE)

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock traders purchased 15,185 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 258% compared to the typical volume of 4,236 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on STNE shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. UBS Group lowered their price target on StoneCo from $20.00 to $19.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. BTIG Research assumed coverage on StoneCo in a research note on Monday. They set a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price objective on the stock. Santander lowered shares of StoneCo from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of StoneCo from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Seven equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tekne Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in StoneCo in the second quarter worth $35,288,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 2nd quarter valued at $574,000. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its position in shares of StoneCo by 218.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 4,234,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,070,000 after buying an additional 2,904,432 shares during the last quarter. Alta Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 3rd quarter worth $1,631,000. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. increased its holdings in StoneCo by 72.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 51,420 shares of the company’s stock worth $825,000 after acquiring an additional 21,604 shares during the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StoneCo Stock Performance

NASDAQ:STNE traded up $0.39 during trading on Monday, reaching $17.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,054,401 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,336,097. StoneCo has a 12 month low of $8.64 and a 12 month high of $19.95. The firm has a market cap of $5.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -32.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.81. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $15.29 and a 200-day moving average of $16.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.43.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43. The company had revenue of $669.49 million for 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%. Research analysts expect that StoneCo will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.