Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Grows Stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. $MELI

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 15.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 242,903 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,251 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $567,650,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lavaca Capital LLC increased its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 140,201.3% during the 2nd quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC now owns 1,066,290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,786,888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,530 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its position in MercadoLibre by 16.6% during the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 521,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,363,878,000 after buying an additional 74,201 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its position in MercadoLibre by 0.4% during the third quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 497,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,244,447,000 after buying an additional 1,833 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in MercadoLibre by 3.6% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 271,202 shares of the company’s stock valued at $709,535,000 after buying an additional 9,474 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in MercadoLibre in the second quarter worth approximately $698,848,000. Institutional investors own 87.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MELI. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,850.00 to $2,950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. BTIG Research lowered their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,750.00 to $2,650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Itau BBA Securities reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of MercadoLibre in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised MercadoLibre from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $2,650.00 to $2,800.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded MercadoLibre from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $2,808.67.

Key Headlines Impacting MercadoLibre

Here are the key news stories impacting MercadoLibre this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Very strong top‑line and segment growth — Q4 revenue rose ~44–45%, GMV and fintech (Mercado Pago) surged, and user additions accelerated; company cites AI investments as a revenue/efficiency driver. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Market/institutional view: some analysts and institutional holders see the pullback as a buying opportunity — institutional ownership is high and a number of firms retained Buy/Outperform ratings after the print. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent inflows/new positions: at least one asset manager (SQUADRA) initiated/added a material stake, signaling active investor interest on weakness. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst reactions: several firms cut price targets (examples: Barclays, Cantor, Wedbush, BTIG) but generally kept positive ratings — view is that cuts reflect near‑term margin pressure rather than a change to the long‑term thesis. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Leadership/strategy update: management is accelerating investments in AI, logistics and credit to capture penetration in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina — a strategic choice that supports long‑term TAM but clouds near‑term profitability. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: EPS miss and margin compression: Q4 EPS (~$11.03) missed consensus, driven by higher spending (lowered free‑shipping thresholds, logistics and credit growth) — investors punished the miss and the uncertainty about when margins will recover. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Aftermath: the mixed print triggered sharp intraday selling and some analysts trimmed near‑term estimates; margin risk is the principal downside catalyst while revenue growth is intact. Article Title

MercadoLibre Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MELI opened at $1,740.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $88.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.44. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $2,052.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $2,165.94. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $1,654.24 and a fifty-two week high of $2,645.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.17.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $11.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.66 by ($0.63). MercadoLibre had a net margin of 6.91% and a return on equity of 35.38%. The company had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $12.61 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 44.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at MercadoLibre

In related news, Director Henrique Vasoncelos Dubugras sold 845 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2,028.14, for a total value of $1,713,778.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Emiliano Calemzuk sold 45 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2,027.37, for a total value of $91,231.65. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $521,034.09. The trade was a 14.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,136 shares of company stock valued at $2,308,788. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About MercadoLibre

MercadoLibre, Inc operates an integrated e-commerce and fintech ecosystem serving consumers and businesses across Latin America. The company provides an online marketplace that connects buyers and sellers for a wide range of goods and services, supported by tools for merchants, advertising, and classifieds. Over time MercadoLibre has expanded beyond its marketplace roots into complementary areas that support digital commerce end to end.

Key offerings include its marketplace platform and a suite of logistics and payment services.