Jain Global LLC Purchases 609,627 Shares of StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

Jain Global LLC boosted its position in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) by 381.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 769,596 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 609,627 shares during the period. Jain Global LLC’s holdings in StoneCo were worth $14,553,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 3rd quarter valued at $55,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in StoneCo by 64.2% in the 3rd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 1,151 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. bought a new stake in StoneCo in the 3rd quarter valued at about $55,000. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in StoneCo during the third quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in StoneCo by 773.6% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 3,195 shares during the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

StoneCo Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ STNE opened at $13.81 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $3.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 1.77. StoneCo Ltd. has a 52 week low of $9.32 and a 52 week high of $19.95. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.55.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. StoneCo had a return on equity of 21.55% and a net margin of 15.38%.The firm had revenue of $675.42 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $704.26 million. Research analysts anticipate that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on STNE. Santander downgraded shares of StoneCo from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of StoneCo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of StoneCo from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $19.50 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of StoneCo in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.44.

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.