MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) Holdings Lifted by Prudential PLC

Prudential PLC increased its holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 15.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,232 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 836 shares during the period. Prudential PLC’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $10,597,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on MELI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price 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. Barclays increased their price objective on MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,400.00 to $2,750.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Wedbush reduced 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. 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. According to MarketBeat, MercadoLibre presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $2,402.81.

MercadoLibre Stock Down 5.4 %

NASDAQ MELI opened at $1,841.29 on Friday. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a twelve month low of $1,324.99 and a twelve month high of $2,374.54. The stock has a market cap of $93.35 billion, a PE ratio of 48.84, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.64. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $2,036.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,968.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.25.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $12.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.21 by $2.40. The company 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 forecast that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 EPS for the current year.

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.