Zhang Financial LLC Lowers Stock Position in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Zhang Financial LLC lowered its position in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 10.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 332 shares of the company’s stock after selling 39 shares during the period. Zhang Financial LLC’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $522,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MELI. Raymond James Trust N.A. purchased a new position in MercadoLibre during the first quarter valued at $236,000. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its position in MercadoLibre by 6.1% during the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $784,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in MercadoLibre by 8.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 10.1% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 2,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,423,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 25.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 1,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,247,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MELI. Barclays lowered their price target on MercadoLibre from $2,000.00 to $1,800.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup lowered their price target on MercadoLibre from $1,990.00 to $1,940.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Susquehanna lifted their price target 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. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $2,000.00 price target on shares of MercadoLibre in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on MercadoLibre from $1,900.00 to $1,800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MercadoLibre has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,813.85.

MercadoLibre Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MELI opened at $1,356.43 on Friday. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $1,063.02 and a fifty-two week high of $1,825.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,559.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,523.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market cap of $68.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.44.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $3.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.66 by ($3.41). MercadoLibre had a net margin of 6.82% and a return on equity of 39.07%. The business had revenue of $4.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.25 EPS. MercadoLibre’s revenue for the quarter was up 42.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 35.77 earnings per share 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.