Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Increases Holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. $MELI

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 8.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 309 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ninety One North America Inc. grew its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 21.5% during the second quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. now owns 6,094 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,927,000 after buying an additional 1,080 shares during the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. grew its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 221.9% during the first quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 2,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,357,000 after buying an additional 1,893 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MercadoLibre during the first quarter valued at about $203,000. Costello Asset Management INC grew its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 434.3% during the second quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,509,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 8.5% during the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,899,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MercadoLibre Stock Up 2.8%

MELI stock opened at $2,360.76 on Friday. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $1,646.00 and a fifty-two week high of $2,645.22. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $2,312.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2,368.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.20. The company has a market capitalization of $119.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.46.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $8.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.88 by ($1.56). MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 41.35% and a net margin of 7.93%.The firm had revenue of $7.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $7.83 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MELI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Benchmark reduced their price objective on MercadoLibre from $2,875.00 to $2,780.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MercadoLibre in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wedbush set a $2,700.00 target price on MercadoLibre and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Barclays lifted their price objective on MercadoLibre from $2,800.00 to $2,900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price objective on MercadoLibre from $2,975.00 to $2,900.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MercadoLibre presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $2,790.59.

About MercadoLibre

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.