Magellan Asset Management Ltd Buys New Shares in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Magellan Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 12,016 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,432,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MELI. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in MercadoLibre by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 197 shares of the company’s stock worth $404,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co raised its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 42.3% during the third quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 279 shares of the company’s stock worth $572,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new position in MercadoLibre during the third quarter valued at $2,172,000. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in MercadoLibre in the third quarter valued at $5,118,000. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. grew its position in MercadoLibre by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 312 shares of the company’s stock worth $640,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. 87.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Raymond James upgraded MercadoLibre from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $2,250.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,400.00 to $2,750.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on MercadoLibre from $1,950.00 to $2,300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $2,402.81.

MercadoLibre Price Performance

MELI stock opened at $1,934.03 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $2,034.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,970.61. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 12-month low of $1,324.99 and a 12-month high of $2,374.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $98.05 billion, a PE ratio of 51.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.64.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $12.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.21 by $2.40. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 51.89%. The company had revenue of $6.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.94 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 EPS for the current year.

MercadoLibre Profile

MercadoLibre, Inc operates online commerce platforms in the United States. It operates Mercado Libre Marketplace, an automated online commerce platform that enables businesses, merchants, and individuals to list merchandise and conduct sales and purchases digitally; and Mercado Pago FinTech platform, a financial technology solution platform, which facilitates transactions on and off its marketplaces by providing a mechanism that allows its users to send and receive payments online, as well as allows users to transfer money through their websites or on the apps.