Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New $132,000 Investment in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 16,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $132,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. APG Asset Management N.V. grew its stake in StoneCo by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 39,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 7,400 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC boosted its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 90.6% in the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 11,210 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 5,330 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of StoneCo by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 212,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,692,000 after purchasing an additional 8,006 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of StoneCo during the 4th quarter valued at $278,000. Finally, Aristides Capital LLC purchased a new stake in StoneCo during the 4th quarter worth about $184,000. Institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on StoneCo from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of StoneCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citigroup raised shares of StoneCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of StoneCo from $5.70 to $6.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $15.63.

StoneCo Stock Up 3.5%

STNE stock opened at $13.89 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $11.73 and its 200 day moving average is $10.18. The stock has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. StoneCo Ltd. has a 1-year low of $7.72 and a 1-year high of $15.64.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $625.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.68 billion. StoneCo had a net margin of 16.02% and a return on equity of 13.92%. Sell-side analysts predict that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.