StoneCo Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:STNE)

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders bought 15,185 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 258% compared to the average volume of 4,236 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on STNE shares. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of StoneCo from $20.00 to $19.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Santander cut shares of StoneCo from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. BTIG Research assumed coverage on StoneCo in a research report on Monday. They set a “buy” rating and a $22.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Zacks Research lowered StoneCo from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, StoneCo currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StoneCo

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STNE. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the 1st quarter valued at about $902,000. Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of StoneCo in the first quarter worth approximately $70,000. Aberdeen Group plc increased its position in shares of StoneCo by 54.4% in the second quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 33,516 shares of the company’s stock worth $538,000 after purchasing an additional 11,809 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in StoneCo in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC bought a new stake in StoneCo during the second quarter valued at approximately $193,000. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StoneCo Price Performance

StoneCo stock traded up $0.39 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $17.47. 1,054,401 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,336,097. StoneCo has a 52 week low of $8.64 and a 52 week high of $19.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.43. The firm has a market cap of $5.00 billion, a PE ratio of -32.31, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.81. The company’s fifty day moving average is $15.29 and its 200-day moving average is $16.26.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43. The firm had revenue of $669.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $669.81 million. StoneCo had a negative net margin of 7.28% and a positive return on equity of 20.18%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that StoneCo will post 1.16 EPS for the current year.

About StoneCo

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.