StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $8.74, but opened at $8.25. StoneCo shares last traded at $8.52, with a volume of 811,125 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STNE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $9.00 target price (down from $19.00) on shares of StoneCo in a report on Thursday. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of StoneCo from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Susquehanna cut their price target on StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on StoneCo from $21.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded StoneCo to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.75.

StoneCo Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 2.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $9.12 and its 200-day moving average is $11.18.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StoneCo

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in STNE. American Century Companies Inc. purchased a new stake in StoneCo during the 2nd quarter worth $23,483,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in shares of StoneCo by 2,445.5% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,287,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,151,000 after buying an additional 2,197,495 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of StoneCo in the second quarter worth about $1,458,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its stake in shares of StoneCo by 327.2% in the second quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,239,957 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,867,000 after buying an additional 949,671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighVista Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of StoneCo by 36.2% during the 2nd quarter. HighVista Strategies LLC now owns 95,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after buying an additional 25,300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.19% of the company’s stock.

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.