StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Receives “Underweight” Rating from Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley restated their underweight rating on shares of StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) in a research report report published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $7.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $16.50.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on STNE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised StoneCo from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and set a $20.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, June 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on StoneCo from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Barclays lowered their target price on StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on StoneCo from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, StoneCo currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $17.80.

StoneCo Price Performance

STNE opened at $11.33 on Thursday. StoneCo has a 1-year low of $9.34 and a 1-year high of $19.46. The company has a 50-day moving average of $13.11 and a 200-day moving average of $14.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.36. The company has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.21, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 2.31.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $615.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $590.74 million. StoneCo had a return on equity of 13.21% and a net margin of 15.27%. Equities analysts expect that StoneCo will post 1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StoneCo

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in StoneCo by 204.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 7,741,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,823,000 after purchasing an additional 5,195,787 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in StoneCo in the fourth quarter worth approximately $58,777,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in StoneCo by 2,445.5% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,287,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,197,495 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in StoneCo in the first quarter worth approximately $33,139,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in StoneCo in the second quarter worth approximately $23,483,000. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.