StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Trading Down 5% – Should You Sell?

Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) fell 5% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $9.47 and last traded at $9.7180. 2,174,293 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average daily volume of 5,136,240 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.23.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup lowered StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $18.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Friday, May 15th. BTIG Research dropped their price target on StoneCo from $22.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $12.60 price target for the company. Bank of America cut StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on StoneCo from $20.00 to $16.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.59.

StoneCo Stock Down 6.2%

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a PE ratio of 3.84, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.74.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $129.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $708.24 million. StoneCo had a net margin of 23.82% and a return on equity of 21.05%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that StoneCo Ltd. will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at StoneCo

In other news, Director Silvio Jose Morais sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.29, for a total value of $101,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 21,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $237,090. This trade represents a 30.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 11.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StoneCo

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of STNE. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in StoneCo during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in StoneCo by 74.1% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,199 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 936 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in StoneCo by 54.4% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,032 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,068 shares during the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc bought a new position in StoneCo during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Torren Management LLC bought a new position in StoneCo during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

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.