Alta Wealth Advisors LLC Takes $1.63 Million Position in StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

Alta Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 86,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,631,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ninety One UK Ltd increased its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 218.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 4,234,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,070,000 after purchasing an additional 2,904,432 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 2nd quarter worth $44,366,000. Azora Capital LP grew its holdings in StoneCo by 88.2% during the second quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 4,863,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,008,000 after purchasing an additional 2,279,821 shares during the period. Tekne Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,288,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of StoneCo in the second quarter worth approximately $34,768,000. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on STNE shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on StoneCo from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of StoneCo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.21.

StoneCo Trading Up 1.8%

STNE opened at $16.28 on Tuesday. StoneCo Ltd. has a one year low of $8.64 and a one year high of $19.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.43. The stock has a market cap of $4.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 1.83. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $15.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.13.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43. StoneCo had a positive return on equity of 20.18% and a negative net margin of 7.28%.The company had revenue of $669.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $669.81 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 EPS for the current year.

StoneCo Company Profile

StoneCo Ltd., commonly known as Stone, is a Brazilian financial technology company that provides integrated digital payment solutions and related financial services to merchants. Through its cloud-based platform, Stone enables businesses of all sizes to accept a variety of payment methods, including point-of-sale (POS) terminals, mobile card readers and e-commerce gateways. In addition to payment acceptance, the company offers value-added services such as working capital loans, digital banking products and automated billing tools designed to help merchants manage cash flow and streamline operations.

Since its founding in 2012 by André Street and Eduardo Pontes, Stone has focused on serving over half a million merchants across Brazil’s retail, restaurant and services sectors.