MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) have been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the seventeen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $2,402.81.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MELI shares. Raymond James raised MercadoLibre from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $2,250.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Susquehanna lifted their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,350.00 to $2,760.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,150.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Barclays increased their price target on MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, New Street Research raised shares of MercadoLibre from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $2,000.00 to $2,300.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MercadoLibre

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in MercadoLibre by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,415,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,108,079,000 after acquiring an additional 179,807 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 38.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,687,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,868,869,000 after purchasing an additional 470,829 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 24.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,568,602 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,667,386,000 after purchasing an additional 308,973 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in MercadoLibre by 41.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,394,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,370,848,000 after purchasing an additional 405,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in MercadoLibre by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 545,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $927,239,000 after buying an additional 2,048 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.62% of the company’s stock.

MercadoLibre Price Performance

MELI stock opened at $2,048.07 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $103.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.33, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.64. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $2,028.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,974.47. MercadoLibre has a twelve month low of $1,324.99 and a twelve month high of $2,374.54.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $12.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.21 by $2.40. The firm had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.94 billion. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 51.89%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MercadoLibre will post 43.96 EPS for the current year.

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.