MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) Shares Purchased by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 10.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 76,346 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,380 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.15% of MercadoLibre worth $129,958,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MELI. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of MercadoLibre in the third quarter valued at approximately $114,417,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 10,272 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted 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 valued at $271,897,000 after purchasing an additional 43,215 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in MercadoLibre by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 1,369 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,328,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its stake 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 worth $5,598,000 after buying an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MELI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on MercadoLibre from $1,950.00 to $2,300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the stock 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. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on MercadoLibre from $2,150.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of MercadoLibre from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $2,250.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $2,402.81.

MercadoLibre Trading Down 5.4 %

Shares of MELI stock opened at $1,841.29 on Friday. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $1,324.99 and a fifty-two week high of $2,374.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $2,036.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,968.60. The stock has a market cap of $93.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last issued its earnings results 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 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, analysts anticipate that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 EPS for the current 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.