MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $1,806.15.

MELI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup decreased their price objective on MercadoLibre from $1,990.00 to $1,940.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on MercadoLibre from $1,850.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,000.00 to $2,150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com cut shares of MercadoLibre from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,000.00 to $1,800.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MercadoLibre

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in MercadoLibre by 10.2% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,558,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,243,832,000 after acquiring an additional 236,744 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,233,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,831,721,000 after purchasing an additional 28,095 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its stake in MercadoLibre by 74.8% during the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 1,162,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,838,964,000 after purchasing an additional 497,535 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in MercadoLibre by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,037,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,630,740,000 after purchasing an additional 4,317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its holdings in MercadoLibre by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 750,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,179,787,000 after buying an additional 88,359 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.62% of the company’s stock.

MercadoLibre Stock Performance

MercadoLibre stock opened at $1,397.86 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,574.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,523.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. MercadoLibre has a 12-month low of $1,063.02 and a 12-month high of $1,825.00.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $3.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.66 by ($3.41). MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 39.07% and a net margin of 6.82%. The company had revenue of $4.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 42.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that MercadoLibre will post 35.89 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.