Inspire Investing LLC Acquires New Position in StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new stake in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 55,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,051,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in STNE. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of StoneCo in the 2nd quarter worth $44,366,000. Azora Capital LP grew its position in shares of StoneCo by 88.2% during the 2nd quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 4,863,331 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,008,000 after buying an additional 2,279,821 shares during the period. Tekne Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,288,000. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,768,000. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $21,330,000. Institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

STNE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research cut shares of StoneCo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America lifted their target price on StoneCo from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on StoneCo from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, StoneCo presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.21.

StoneCo Trading Down 0.8%

STNE opened at $14.61 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -27.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.85. StoneCo Ltd. has a 12 month low of $7.72 and a 12 month high of $19.95. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43. StoneCo had a positive return on equity of 20.18% and a negative net margin of 7.28%.The firm had revenue of $669.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $669.81 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that StoneCo Ltd. 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.