Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Acquires 272 Shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,035 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $8,562,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MELI. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of MercadoLibre during the 3rd quarter valued at $114,417,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in MercadoLibre by 20.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 59,430 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,948,000 after buying an additional 10,272 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in MercadoLibre by 37.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 157,688 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,897,000 after acquiring an additional 43,215 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in MercadoLibre by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 1,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,328,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 40.0% during the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 2,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,598,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares during the period. 87.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on MELI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective 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. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on MercadoLibre from $2,150.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on MercadoLibre from $2,400.00 to $2,750.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, New Street Research upgraded shares of MercadoLibre from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $2,000.00 to $2,300.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $2,402.81.

MercadoLibre Price Performance

NASDAQ:MELI opened at $1,934.03 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $2,034.60 and a 200 day moving average of $1,970.61. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 52-week low of $1,324.99 and a 52-week high of $2,374.54.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.21 by $2.40. The firm had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.94 billion. MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 51.89% and a net margin of 9.20%. On average, research analysts expect that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.