StoneCo’s (STNE) “Underweight” Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reiterated their underweight rating on shares of StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $7.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $16.50.

STNE has been the subject of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of StoneCo from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of StoneCo from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and set a $20.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of StoneCo from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $17.80.

StoneCo Stock Performance

NASDAQ STNE opened at $11.33 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.36. StoneCo has a 1 year low of $9.34 and a 1 year high of $19.46. The company has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a PE ratio of 10.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 2.31. The company has a fifty day moving average of $13.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.55.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.04). StoneCo had a return on equity of 13.21% and a net margin of 15.27%. The business had revenue of $615.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $590.74 million. As a group, analysts expect that StoneCo will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StoneCo

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STNE. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in StoneCo during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Central Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new stake in StoneCo during the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in StoneCo during the 1st quarter worth $41,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its position in shares of StoneCo by 152.1% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 3,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 2,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its position in shares of StoneCo by 90.2% in the 2nd quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 4,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 2,275 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.