Magellan Asset Management Ltd Purchases Shares of 12,016 MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Magellan Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 12,016 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,432,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Human Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MercadoLibre in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in MercadoLibre by 220.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 16 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. raised its stake in MercadoLibre by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 16 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 8 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MercadoLibre during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. increased its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 171.4% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 19 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MercadoLibre Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MELI opened at $1,934.03 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The company has a market cap of $98.05 billion, a PE ratio of 51.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $2,034.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,970.61. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 1-year low of $1,324.99 and a 1-year high of $2,374.54.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on MELI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on MercadoLibre from $1,950.00 to $2,300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Wedbush cut their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,350.00 to $2,760.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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 note on Monday, March 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MercadoLibre presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $2,402.81.

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.