Ruffer LLP Purchases New Stake in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)

Ruffer LLP acquired a new stake in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 70,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $560,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of STNE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of StoneCo by 327.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,580,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,798,000 after purchasing an additional 1,210,817 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 51.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,972,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,765,000 after purchasing an additional 2,692,558 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC bought a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the 3rd quarter valued at about $9,091,000. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in StoneCo by 170.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 440,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,962,000 after buying an additional 277,963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of StoneCo during the third quarter worth about $716,000. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on STNE shares. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Barclays reduced their price target on StoneCo from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $9.00 target price (down previously from $19.00) on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.38.

StoneCo Price Performance

NASDAQ:STNE opened at $9.71 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.33. StoneCo Ltd. has a 52-week low of $7.72 and a 52-week high of $17.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $8.96 and a 200 day moving average of $10.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42.

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.