The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Grows Position in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) by 1.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 123,275 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,848 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in StoneCo were worth $1,478,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in StoneCo by 204.1% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 7,741,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,823,000 after purchasing an additional 5,195,787 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in shares of StoneCo by 2,445.5% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,287,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,151,000 after buying an additional 2,197,495 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo during the first quarter worth $33,139,000. American Century Companies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo during the second quarter worth $23,483,000. Finally, Fourth Sail Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo during the second quarter worth $21,323,000. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

StoneCo Stock Performance

Shares of STNE opened at $10.97 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 2.30. StoneCo Ltd. has a 12 month low of $9.34 and a 12 month high of $19.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company’s fifty day moving average is $12.36 and its 200-day moving average is $13.67.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last announced 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 return on equity of 13.21% and a net margin of 15.27%. The company had revenue of $615.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $590.74 million. Equities analysts expect that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on STNE. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded StoneCo to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays cut their price target on StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI cut their price target on StoneCo from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $7.00 price objective (down previously from $16.50) on shares of StoneCo in a report on Thursday, September 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.80.

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.