StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Stock Rating Lowered by Citigroup

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $11.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup’s price objective points to a potential upside of 13.40% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on STNE. Weiss Ratings raised StoneCo from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. BTIG Research lowered their price objective on StoneCo from $22.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Zacks Research raised StoneCo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Santander lowered shares of StoneCo from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group reduced 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.17.

StoneCo Price Performance

NASDAQ STNE opened at $9.70 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.14. StoneCo has a twelve month low of $9.60 and a twelve month high of $19.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.41 billion, a PE ratio of 6.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.42. StoneCo had a return on equity of 21.55% and a net margin of 15.38%.The company had revenue of $141.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $675.11 million. Research analysts anticipate that StoneCo will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of StoneCo

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of STNE. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in StoneCo during the 1st quarter worth approximately $342,000. Inceptionr LLC grew its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 46.1% during the first quarter. Inceptionr LLC now owns 18,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 5,815 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 150.8% in the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 26,217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 15,763 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in StoneCo by 88.6% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 24,994 shares of the company’s stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 11,744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in StoneCo by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 12,640 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,000 after acquiring an additional 1,483 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.