Azora Capital LP Has $78.01 Million Stock Position in StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

Azora Capital LP raised its stake in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) by 88.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,863,331 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,279,821 shares during the period. StoneCo comprises approximately 3.5% of Azora Capital LP’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Azora Capital LP’s holdings in StoneCo were worth $78,008,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in StoneCo by 18.4% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,473 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 1,317 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in StoneCo by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 236,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,478,000 after purchasing an additional 24,163 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 1st quarter valued at $807,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the 1st quarter worth $70,502,000. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 37.6% in the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 17,259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $181,000 after buying an additional 4,713 shares during the period. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

StoneCo Trading Down 1.7%

NASDAQ STNE opened at $14.62 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $17.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.43. StoneCo Ltd. has a twelve month low of $7.72 and a twelve month high of $19.95. The stock has a market cap of $4.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.07, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.85.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.43. StoneCo had a positive return on equity of 20.18% and a negative net margin of 7.28%.The business had revenue of $669.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $669.81 million. Equities analysts anticipate that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STNE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on StoneCo from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of StoneCo to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on StoneCo from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.21.

StoneCo 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.