MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) Upgraded by DZ Bank to Buy

DZ Bank upgraded shares of MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. DZ Bank currently has $1,685.00 price objective on the stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $1,850.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,000.00 to $2,150.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com cut MercadoLibre from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on MercadoLibre from $1,900.00 to $1,800.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $2,000.00 target price on shares of MercadoLibre in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $1,804.64.

MercadoLibre Price Performance

MELI opened at $1,395.00 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.72 billion, a PE ratio of 71.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $1,546.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,529.78. MercadoLibre has a 52-week low of $1,063.02 and a 52-week high of $1,825.00.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $3.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.66 by ($3.41). MercadoLibre had a net margin of 6.82% and a return on equity of 39.07%. The company had revenue of $4.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 42.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that MercadoLibre will post 35.77 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of MercadoLibre

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MELI. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 74.8% during the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 1,162,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,838,964,000 after acquiring an additional 497,535 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MercadoLibre during the 4th quarter valued at $554,386,000. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,558,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,243,832,000 after purchasing an additional 236,744 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 112,333.8% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 146,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $229,703,000 after purchasing an additional 146,034 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 1,432.2% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 127,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $200,140,000 after purchasing an additional 119,043 shares in the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MercadoLibre Company 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.