Federated Hermes Inc. Buys 125,668 Shares of StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)

Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,766,712 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 125,668 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned 0.88% of StoneCo worth $49,884,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the 1st quarter worth about $122,000. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in StoneCo by 10.1% in the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 35,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 3,240 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of StoneCo by 190.2% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 882,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,328,000 after purchasing an additional 578,488 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of StoneCo during the first quarter valued at approximately $128,000. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the 1st quarter worth approximately $167,000. Institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

StoneCo Stock Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ STNE opened at $15.30 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $16.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.33. The company has a market capitalization of $4.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 2.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. StoneCo Ltd. has a 52 week low of $9.34 and a 52 week high of $19.46.

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 18th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $655.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $468.47 million. StoneCo had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 11.23%. On average, equities research analysts predict that StoneCo Ltd. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of StoneCo from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. UBS Group lowered shares of StoneCo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded StoneCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $12.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Citigroup upped their price objective on StoneCo from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their target price on StoneCo from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, StoneCo presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.00.

StoneCo Company 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.