Verde Servicos Internacionais S.A. Lowers Stock Holdings in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)

Verde Servicos Internacionais S.A. trimmed its position in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) by 35.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,129 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,871 shares during the quarter. StoneCo accounts for approximately 0.1% of Verde Servicos Internacionais S.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Verde Servicos Internacionais S.A.’s holdings in StoneCo were worth $291,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of STNE. 1832 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in StoneCo in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in StoneCo in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Tucker Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in StoneCo in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in StoneCo by 28.8% in the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 6,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on STNE. Susquehanna decreased their target price on StoneCo from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Friday. UBS Group downgraded shares of StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of StoneCo from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of StoneCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $12.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, StoneCo currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.00.

StoneCo Stock Performance

Shares of STNE traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $15.30. 7,184,728 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,764,890. StoneCo Ltd. has a twelve month low of $9.34 and a twelve month high of $19.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The company has a market capitalization of $4.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.15, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 2.34. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $16.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.36.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 18th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. StoneCo had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 13.35%. The company had revenue of $655.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $468.47 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About StoneCo

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.