Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Purchases 96 Shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,685 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $8,934,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Archer Investment Corp bought a new position in shares of MercadoLibre in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of MercadoLibre in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $190,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 93.8% in the fourth quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC now owns 841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,322,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. Prosperity Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of MercadoLibre in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $228,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 31.1% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 37,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,689,000 after purchasing an additional 9,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.62% of the company’s stock.

MercadoLibre Stock Down 2.0 %

MELI opened at $1,370.25 on Friday. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $1,063.02 and a fifty-two week high of $1,825.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $1,567.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,522.78. The company has a market capitalization of $69.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.44.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $3.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.66 by ($3.41). MercadoLibre had a net margin of 6.82% and a return on equity of 39.07%. The firm had revenue of $4.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 42.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 35.77 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MELI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,000.00 to $2,150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $1,850.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $2,000.00 price objective on shares of MercadoLibre in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $1,990.00 to $1,940.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $1,900.00 to $1,800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,813.85.

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.