JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd Acquires 987 Shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd lifted its holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 43.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,249 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 987 shares during the period. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $5,525,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors increased its stake in MercadoLibre by 38.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,687,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,868,869,000 after acquiring an additional 470,829 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 41.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,394,255 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,370,848,000 after purchasing an additional 405,425 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of MercadoLibre during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $565,306,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in MercadoLibre by 24.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,568,602 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,667,386,000 after buying an additional 308,973 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in MercadoLibre in the fourth quarter worth $383,051,000. 87.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on MELI. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,400.00 to $2,750.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on MercadoLibre from $1,950.00 to $2,300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays boosted their price target on MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $3,100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of MercadoLibre in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, New Street Research upgraded MercadoLibre from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $2,000.00 to $2,300.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $2,504.67.

MercadoLibre Stock Up 1.8 %

MELI opened at $2,452.53 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.61. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a one year low of $1,550.00 and a one year high of $2,501.00. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $2,081.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,982.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.25.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $9.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.82 by $1.92. The company had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.55 billion. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 51.89%. MercadoLibre’s quarterly revenue was up 37.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.78 EPS. Analysts anticipate that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 EPS for the current year.

MercadoLibre 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.