ProShare Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)

ProShare Advisors LLC reduced its stake in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) by 25.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,014 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,316 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in StoneCo were worth $468,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Central Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 152.1% during the 1st quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 3,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 2,110 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its position in shares of StoneCo by 90.2% during the 2nd quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 4,798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 2,275 shares during the period. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in StoneCo in the second quarter valued at approximately $137,000. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on STNE shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $7.00 target price (down previously from $16.50) on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of StoneCo from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on the stock in a report 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. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of StoneCo from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.80.

StoneCo Price Performance

StoneCo stock opened at $11.26 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $12.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.94. The firm has a market cap of $3.54 billion, a PE ratio of 10.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 2.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. StoneCo Ltd. has a 52-week low of $9.34 and a 52-week high of $19.46.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.04). StoneCo had a net margin of 15.27% and a return on equity of 13.21%. The company had revenue of $615.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $590.74 million. On average, research analysts expect that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.1 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.