StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.02 EPS

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) announced its earnings results on Monday. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.02, FiscalAI reports. The business had revenue of $675.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $704.26 million. StoneCo had a positive return on equity of 20.18% and a negative net margin of 7.28%.

StoneCo Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:STNE traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $17.03. The company had a trading volume of 7,929,345 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,184,044. 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 has a 12 month low of $8.64 and a 12 month high of $19.95. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.63. The stock has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.54, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.81.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StoneCo

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STNE. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in StoneCo in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 282,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,177,000 after acquiring an additional 27,637 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 193.9% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 44,831 shares of the company’s stock valued at $674,000 after purchasing an additional 29,578 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the fourth quarter worth $4,626,000. Finally, Zacks Investment Management lifted its position in shares of StoneCo by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 124,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,834,000 after purchasing an additional 8,909 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on STNE. Santander lowered StoneCo from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of StoneCo from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $20.00 to $19.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. BTIG Research started coverage on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Monday, February 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $22.00 target price for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, StoneCo currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.50.

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.