Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Stock

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) had its target price hoisted by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $5.70 to $6.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “underweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential downside of 45.95% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on STNE. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded StoneCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $9.00 price objective (down from $19.00) on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of StoneCo from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.50.

StoneCo Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ STNE opened at $11.10 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $9.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.94. 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 has a 52-week low of $7.72 and a 52-week high of $17.93.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.07. StoneCo had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 16.02%. The business had revenue of $582.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.59 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that StoneCo will post 1.16 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STNE. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in StoneCo by 254.7% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 3,056 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 627.0% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 4,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 3,925 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in StoneCo by 166.7% in the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in StoneCo during the fourth quarter worth $56,000. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lifted 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 valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.