StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Shares Gap Up on Strong Earnings

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $9.85, but opened at $10.86. StoneCo shares last traded at $11.32, with a volume of 4,927,529 shares changing hands.

The company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $582.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.59 billion. StoneCo had a net margin of 16.02% and a return on equity of 13.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on STNE. Barclays dropped their price objective on StoneCo from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of StoneCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $9.00 price target (down from $19.00) on shares of StoneCo in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, StoneCo has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.38.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StoneCo

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in StoneCo by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 21,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $168,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205 shares in the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its stake in shares of StoneCo by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 7,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Aviva PLC lifted its position in shares of StoneCo by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 176,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,410,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 20,781 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,000 after acquiring an additional 2,044 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential PLC increased its holdings in StoneCo by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 15,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $120,000 after acquiring an additional 2,656 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

StoneCo Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.73, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.33. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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.