Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Takes Position in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MELI. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 5 shares during the period. Texas Yale Capital Corp. grew its holdings in MercadoLibre by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 1,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,779,000 after acquiring an additional 5 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co increased its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,699,000 after acquiring an additional 5 shares during the period. Nvwm LLC raised its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,933,000 after acquiring an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perigon Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 957 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,758,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the period. 87.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MercadoLibre Stock Up 6.7 %

MELI stock opened at $2,412.80 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $2,074.13 and a 200 day moving average of $1,979.77. The firm has a market cap of $122.32 billion, a PE ratio of 64.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.61. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a twelve month low of $1,550.00 and a twelve month high of $2,501.00. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $9.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.82 by $1.92. MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 51.89% and a net margin of 9.20%. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.78 EPS. MercadoLibre’s quarterly revenue was up 37.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on MELI. Raymond James raised MercadoLibre from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $2,250.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Susquehanna raised their price target on MercadoLibre from $2,350.00 to $2,760.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Benchmark cut shares of MercadoLibre from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of MercadoLibre in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $2,504.67.

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.