Raymond James & Associates Purchases 4,624 Shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 16.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,236 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,624 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $50,251,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,558,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,243,832,000 after purchasing an additional 236,744 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in MercadoLibre by 1.3% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,233,430 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,831,721,000 after buying an additional 28,095 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in MercadoLibre by 74.8% in the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 1,162,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,838,964,000 after buying an additional 497,535 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 0.4% in 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. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 750,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,179,787,000 after acquiring an additional 88,359 shares in the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group reduced their target price on MercadoLibre from $1,900.00 to $1,800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays lowered their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,000.00 to $1,800.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,800.00 price target on shares of MercadoLibre in a research note on Friday. DZ Bank raised shares of MercadoLibre from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $1,685.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on MercadoLibre from $1,850.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,790.36.

MercadoLibre Trading Up 8.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ MELI traded up $124.57 during trading on Friday, reaching $1,630.56. The company had a trading volume of 1,346,802 shares, compared to its average volume of 395,765. The stock has a market cap of $82.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.96, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.45. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $1,499.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,537.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 12 month low of $1,063.02 and a 12 month high of $1,825.00.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $6.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.64 by $0.14. MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 42.04% and a net margin of 7.17%. The business had revenue of $4.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 36.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 34.46 earnings per share for the current year.

About MercadoLibre

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.