Short Interest in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Rises By 19.9%

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

StoneCo Trading Up 15.5 %

STNE opened at $11.38 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $9.23 and its 200-day moving average is $9.97. StoneCo has a 1-year low of $7.72 and a 1-year high of $17.93. 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 company has a market cap of $3.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.89, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.33.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on STNE shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of StoneCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective 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. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $9.00 price objective (down from $19.00) on shares of StoneCo in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays reduced their price objective 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, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.38.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StoneCo

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in StoneCo by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 13,956,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,234,000 after buying an additional 2,534,079 shares during the period. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. boosted its position in StoneCo by 46.8% during the 4th quarter. Squadra Investments Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 13,951,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,191,000 after buying an additional 4,446,709 shares during the period. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. boosted its position in StoneCo by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Atmos Capital Gestao DE Recursos LTDA. now owns 11,623,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,642,000 after buying an additional 2,173,389 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in StoneCo by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,972,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,765,000 after buying an additional 2,692,558 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its position in StoneCo by 40.3% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,993,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,739,000 after buying an additional 2,008,710 shares during the period. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.