StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Short Interest Update

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 33,980,000 shares, a growth of 19.9% from the February 13th total of 28,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 6,130,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.5 days. Currently, 12.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $9.00 price target (down previously from $19.00) on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target 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. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of StoneCo from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.38.

StoneCo Price Performance

NASDAQ:STNE traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $9.95. The stock had a trading volume of 2,250,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,427,020. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a PE ratio of 7.78, 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 current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42. StoneCo has a 12 month low of $7.72 and a 12 month high of $17.93.

Institutional Trading of StoneCo

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in StoneCo by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 13,956,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,234,000 after buying an additional 2,534,079 shares in the last quarter. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. boosted its position in StoneCo by 46.8% in the fourth quarter. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 13,951,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,191,000 after buying an additional 4,446,709 shares in the last quarter. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. boosted its position in StoneCo by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 11,623,836 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,642,000 after buying an additional 2,173,389 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in StoneCo by 51.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,972,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,765,000 after buying an additional 2,692,558 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its position in StoneCo by 40.3% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,993,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,739,000 after buying an additional 2,008,710 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

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.