CenterBook Partners LP Boosts Stock Position in StoneCo Ltd. $STNE

CenterBook Partners LP grew its stake in shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) by 298.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 88,615 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 66,357 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP’s holdings in StoneCo were worth $1,311,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in STNE. BRC Global BAH Investments Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 4th quarter valued at about $84,501,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 3rd quarter valued at about $58,017,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,247,000. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of StoneCo by 424.5% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,910,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,258,000 after buying an additional 1,546,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of StoneCo by 34.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,856,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,637,000 after buying an additional 1,251,385 shares in the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BTIG Research lowered their price objective on StoneCo from $22.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on StoneCo from $20.00 to $16.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Citigroup cut StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $18.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on StoneCo from $19.50 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, StoneCo presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.58.

StoneCo Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of STNE opened at $10.60 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $12.20 and its 200 day moving average is $14.23. The company has a market capitalization of $2.64 billion, a PE ratio of 4.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 1.73. StoneCo Ltd. has a 12-month low of $9.45 and a 12-month high of $19.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.42. The company had revenue of $141.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $675.11 million. StoneCo had a return on equity of 21.05% and a net margin of 23.82%. Research analysts expect that StoneCo Ltd. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StoneCo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a special dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 4th. Investors of record on Friday, April 24th were paid a dividend of $2.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 24th.

About StoneCo

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.