Rafferty Asset Management LLC Grows Stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 33.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,471 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,892 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $12,704,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in shares of MercadoLibre during the fourth quarter worth about $4,406,000. Ribbit Management Company LLC increased its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 130.4% during the fourth quarter. Ribbit Management Company LLC now owns 10,673 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,149,000 after acquiring an additional 6,040 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 20.6% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 59,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,601,000 after acquiring an additional 10,119 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 3,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,266,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV increased its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 10,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,431,000 after acquiring an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MercadoLibre Stock Performance

Shares of MELI stock opened at $2,584.92 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The business has a 50 day moving average of $2,135.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1,999.88. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 52 week low of $1,550.00 and a 52 week high of $2,610.30. The company has a market cap of $131.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.57, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.61.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $9.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.82 by $1.92. MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 51.89% and a net margin of 9.20%. The company had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.78 earnings per share. MercadoLibre’s quarterly revenue was up 37.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $3,100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MercadoLibre in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on MercadoLibre from $2,640.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded MercadoLibre from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Raymond James upgraded MercadoLibre from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $2,250.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MercadoLibre has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $2,521.33.

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.