Lazard Asset Management LLC Sells 20,851 Shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Lazard Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 29.0% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 51,112 shares of the company’s stock after selling 20,851 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $77,279,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vestor Capital LLC raised its position in MercadoLibre by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 88 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,000 after purchasing an additional 8 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in MercadoLibre by 20.3% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 27,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,794,000 after purchasing an additional 4,658 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in MercadoLibre by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 178,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $226,716,000 after purchasing an additional 4,065 shares during the last quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd raised its position in MercadoLibre by 33.4% during the 1st quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 4,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,499,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 112,333.8% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 146,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $229,703,000 after acquiring an additional 146,034 shares in the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MELI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised MercadoLibre from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $1,400.00 to $2,100.00 in a research report on Monday, May 20th. New Street Research lowered MercadoLibre from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. 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. Barclays lifted their price objective on MercadoLibre from $1,800.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, DZ Bank raised MercadoLibre from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $1,685.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,922.08.

MercadoLibre Stock Up 1.6 %

MELI stock traded up $26.54 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $1,651.69. 169,025 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 268,254. The stock has a market cap of $83.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $1,141.04 and a fifty-two week high of $1,825.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $1,654.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,619.50.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $6.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.64 by $0.14. MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 39.46% and a net margin of 7.17%. The business had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.97 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 36.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 33.38 EPS for the current fiscal 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.