Rakuten Securities Inc. Makes New Investment in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $190,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MELI. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its stake in MercadoLibre by 74.8% during the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 1,162,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,838,964,000 after acquiring an additional 497,535 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 236,744 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 112,333.8% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 146,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $229,703,000 after buying an additional 146,034 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 30.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 474,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $401,841,000 after buying an additional 111,751 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 108.1% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 195,919 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,475,000 after buying an additional 101,757 shares in the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MELI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup lowered their target price on MercadoLibre from $1,990.00 to $1,940.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,000.00 to $2,150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Barclays lowered their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,000.00 to $1,800.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com lowered MercadoLibre from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $2,000.00 price target on shares of MercadoLibre in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,813.85.

MercadoLibre Price Performance

Shares of MELI opened at $1,397.86 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 1 year low of $1,063.02 and a 1 year high of $1,825.00. The stock has a market cap of $70.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.44. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $1,574.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,523.84.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $3.25 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.25 EPS. MercadoLibre’s quarterly revenue was up 42.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 35.77 earnings per share 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.