Martin Currie Ltd. Has $71.80 Million Stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Martin Currie Ltd. lessened its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,225 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,221 shares during the period. MercadoLibre comprises 2.6% of Martin Currie Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Martin Currie Ltd.’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $71,801,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 11.9% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 197 shares of the company’s stock worth $404,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in MercadoLibre by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 1,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,657,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP raised its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 1,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,769,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of MercadoLibre during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $273,000. Finally, Fiduciary Trust Co boosted its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 511 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,049,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MELI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,400.00 to $2,750.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Bank of America boosted their price target on MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. New Street Research raised MercadoLibre from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $2,000.00 to $2,300.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James raised MercadoLibre from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $2,250.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target 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 equities research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, MercadoLibre currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $2,402.81.

MercadoLibre Price Performance

MercadoLibre stock opened at $2,048.07 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $2,028.39 and its 200 day moving average is $1,974.17. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a one year low of $1,324.99 and a one year high of $2,374.54. The firm has a market cap of $103.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $12.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $6.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.94 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 EPS for the current year.

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.