StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Shares Sold by Nucleo Capital LTDA.

Nucleo Capital LTDA. cut its holdings in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,457,062 shares of the company’s stock after selling 54,369 shares during the quarter. StoneCo accounts for 31.8% of Nucleo Capital LTDA.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Nucleo Capital LTDA. owned about 0.80% of StoneCo worth $19,583,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of STNE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 327.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,580,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,798,000 after purchasing an additional 1,210,817 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in StoneCo by 51.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,972,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,765,000 after purchasing an additional 2,692,558 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $9,091,000. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of StoneCo by 170.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 440,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,962,000 after buying an additional 277,963 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in StoneCo by 313.4% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 472,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,323,000 after buying an additional 358,398 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

StoneCo Price Performance

Shares of STNE opened at $10.99 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.92. StoneCo Ltd. has a 52-week low of $7.72 and a 52-week high of $17.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a PE ratio of 8.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $582.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.59 billion. StoneCo had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 16.02%. Sell-side analysts predict that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on STNE. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $9.00 price target (down from $19.00) on shares of StoneCo in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on StoneCo from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised StoneCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on StoneCo from $5.70 to $6.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, StoneCo has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $14.50.

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.