StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Reaches New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $15.16 and last traded at $15.09, with a volume of 6911417 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.76.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STNE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of StoneCo from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $5.70 to $6.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of StoneCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded StoneCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $9.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $15.63.

StoneCo Trading Up 9.7%

The firm has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.92. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $13.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $625.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.68 billion. StoneCo had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 16.02%. Equities analysts forecast that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in StoneCo by 1,486.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,903 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 2,720 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 327.4% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,154 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 2,416 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 254.7% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 3,056 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of StoneCo by 627.0% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 4,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 3,925 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in StoneCo by 143.0% during the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,614 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 2,715 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

StoneCo Company Profile

StoneCo Ltd. provides financial technology and software solutions to merchants and integrated partners to conduct electronic commerce across in-store, online, and mobile channels in Brazil. It distributes its solutions, principally through proprietary Stone Hubs, which offer hyper-local sales and services; and sells solutions to brick-and-mortar and digital merchants through sales team.