Private Advisor Group LLC Trims Stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Private Advisor Group LLC decreased its holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 19.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 503 shares of the company’s stock after selling 125 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $855,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in MercadoLibre by 169,952.3% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 181,956 shares of the company’s stock worth $309,405,000 after acquiring an additional 181,849 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 18.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 878,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,803,665,000 after purchasing an additional 137,564 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 52.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 349,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $717,525,000 after purchasing an additional 120,922 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its stake in MercadoLibre by 352.8% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 94,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,137,000 after buying an additional 73,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in MercadoLibre by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,873,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,845,207,000 after buying an additional 70,154 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.62% of the company’s stock.

MercadoLibre Price Performance

Shares of MELI opened at $2,121.87 on Friday. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a twelve month low of $1,324.99 and a twelve month high of $2,374.54. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $1,909.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,967.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.57 billion, a PE ratio of 56.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $12.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.21 by $2.40. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 51.89%. The company had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.94 billion. Research analysts anticipate that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James upgraded MercadoLibre from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $2,250.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. New Street Research upgraded MercadoLibre from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $2,000.00 to $2,300.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $2,450.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,150.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $2,385.94.

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.