Handelsbanken Fonder AB Grows Stock Holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,191 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $45,535,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MELI. GQG Partners LLC lifted its position in MercadoLibre by 442.2% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 794,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,201,679,000 after purchasing an additional 648,198 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in MercadoLibre by 43.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 771,893 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,167,073,000 after acquiring an additional 232,787 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in MercadoLibre in the second quarter worth about $2,913,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of 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 period. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 1,432.2% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 127,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,140,000 after purchasing an additional 119,043 shares during the period. 87.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on MELI. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $2,530.00 price target on shares of MercadoLibre in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Raymond James assumed coverage on MercadoLibre in a research report on Friday, September 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $2,350.00 target price on the stock. Susquehanna upped their price target on MercadoLibre from $2,300.00 to $2,350.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on MercadoLibre from $2,175.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on MercadoLibre from $2,180.00 to $2,480.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $2,246.07.

MercadoLibre Price Performance

Shares of MELI traded up $0.80 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $1,960.00. 315,878 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 355,040. The stock has a market cap of $99.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.70, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $1,975.39 and a 200-day moving average of $1,728.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.28. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 52 week low of $1,141.04 and a 52 week high of $2,161.73.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $10.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.53 by $1.95. The business had revenue of $5.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.64 billion. MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 43.52% and a net margin of 8.03%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.16 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 35.79 EPS for the current fiscal 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.