Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 49,158 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 327 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of MercadoLibre worth $80,786,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MELI. Capital International Investors increased its position in MercadoLibre by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,037,070 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,630,740,000 after buying an additional 4,317 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 12.7% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 845,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,278,738,000 after acquiring an additional 95,029 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 442.2% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 794,782 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,201,679,000 after purchasing an additional 648,198 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in MercadoLibre by 43.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 771,893 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,167,073,000 after purchasing an additional 232,787 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in MercadoLibre by 55.8% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 368,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $557,225,000 after purchasing an additional 132,028 shares during the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MercadoLibre Trading Up 2.3 %

MercadoLibre stock opened at $2,061.66 on Friday. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 52-week low of $1,141.04 and a 52-week high of $2,064.76. The company has a market cap of $104.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 92.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,768.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,648.77.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $10.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.53 by $1.95. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 8.03% and a return on equity of 45.61%. The company had revenue of $5.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.16 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 41.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 33.4 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MELI. BTIG Research upped their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,025.00 to $2,250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised MercadoLibre from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $1,400.00 to $2,100.00 in a research report on Monday, May 20th. New Street Research lowered MercadoLibre from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Susquehanna upped their price target on MercadoLibre from $2,300.00 to $2,350.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded MercadoLibre from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MercadoLibre presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $2,067.92.

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.