Short Interest in StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) Grows By 33.3%

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ:STNE) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 24,360,000 shares, an increase of 33.3% from the November 30th total of 18,280,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 4,940,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STNE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded StoneCo to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of StoneCo from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $7.00 target price (down previously from $16.50) on shares of StoneCo in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of StoneCo from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.13.

StoneCo Stock Performance

NASDAQ STNE traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $8.19. The company had a trading volume of 3,081,644 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,291,565. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.53. StoneCo has a fifty-two week low of $7.89 and a fifty-two week high of $19.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 2.21.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StoneCo

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STNE. State Street Corp raised its holdings in StoneCo by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,972,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,765,000 after acquiring an additional 2,692,558 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC bought a new stake in shares of StoneCo during the third quarter valued at approximately $9,091,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of StoneCo in the third quarter valued at $716,000. Barclays PLC lifted its position in StoneCo by 170.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 440,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,962,000 after purchasing an additional 277,963 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in StoneCo by 313.4% during the third 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 in the last quarter. 73.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.