Legal & General Group Plc Purchases 5,302 Shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. $MELI

Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 2.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 252,603 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,302 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $428,766,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MELI. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MercadoLibre in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,246,015,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in MercadoLibre by 22.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,225,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,481,812,000 after buying an additional 408,939 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in MercadoLibre during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $597,045,000. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in MercadoLibre by 114.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 444,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $768,728,000 after buying an additional 237,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in MercadoLibre by 184.8% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 311,818 shares of the company’s stock valued at $628,083,000 after buying an additional 202,322 shares during the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MercadoLibre Stock Up 2.5%

MercadoLibre stock opened at $1,997.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $101.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.31, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,805.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,771.87. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 12 month low of $1,495.00 and a 12 month high of $2,548.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $9.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.65 by $0.54. MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 26.54% and a net margin of 5.30%.The firm had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $10.31 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 49.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 39.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MELI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Zacks Research raised MercadoLibre from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Raymond James Financial set a $2,000.00 price target on MercadoLibre in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Daiwa Securities Group cut shares of MercadoLibre from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $1,800.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $3,500.00 to $2,800.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MercadoLibre in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $2,272.00.

MercadoLibre Profile

MercadoLibre, Inc operates an integrated e-commerce and fintech ecosystem serving consumers and businesses across Latin America. The company provides an online marketplace that connects buyers and sellers for a wide range of goods and services, supported by tools for merchants, advertising, and classifieds. Over time MercadoLibre has expanded beyond its marketplace roots into complementary areas that support digital commerce end to end.

Key offerings include its marketplace platform and a suite of logistics and payment services.