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

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

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MELI. Barclays raised their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $1,950.00 to $2,300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,350.00 to $2,760.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Wedbush dropped their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st.

MercadoLibre Stock Performance

NASDAQ MELI opened at $2,070.41 on Tuesday. MercadoLibre has a fifty-two week low of $1,324.99 and a fifty-two week high of $2,374.54. The stock has a market cap of $104.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.62. The business has a fifty day moving average of $1,916.76 and a 200-day moving average of $1,968.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last released 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. MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 51.89% and a net margin of 9.20%. The company had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.94 billion. As a group, analysts predict that MercadoLibre will post 43.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MercadoLibre

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its position in MercadoLibre by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 5 shares during the last quarter. Mount Lucas Management LP increased its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 3.6% in the third quarter. Mount Lucas Management LP now owns 143 shares of the company’s stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 5 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 203 shares of the company’s stock worth $346,000 after buying an additional 5 shares during the last quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. increased its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 1,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,779,000 after buying an additional 5 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co increased its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,699,000 after buying an additional 5 shares during the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.