LPL Financial LLC Purchases 4,678 Shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 13.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,490 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,678 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $67,150,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Human Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of MercadoLibre during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in MercadoLibre by 220.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 16 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the period. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. lifted its holdings in MercadoLibre by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 16 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 8 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MercadoLibre in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in MercadoLibre by 171.4% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 19 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MELI. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,350.00 to $2,760.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on 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 raised their price target on MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Wedbush lowered their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,150.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $2,402.81.

MercadoLibre Stock Down 5.3 %

Shares of MELI stock opened at $2,074.97 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $2,018.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,973.49. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 1-year low of $1,324.99 and a 1-year high of $2,374.54. The company has a market cap of $105.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $12.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.21 by $2.40. The business had revenue of $6.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 earnings per share 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.