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

Shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fifteen have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $2,848.8235.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MELI shares. Benchmark lowered their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,875.00 to $2,780.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Zacks Research upgraded MercadoLibre from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Wedbush increased their price objective on MercadoLibre from $2,700.00 to $2,800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,800.00 to $2,900.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,600.00 to $2,650.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MercadoLibre

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,816,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,244,604,000 after buying an additional 59,838 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 1.3% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,740,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,067,194,000 after purchasing an additional 22,659 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 7.0% in the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,235,240 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,228,460,000 after purchasing an additional 81,124 shares during the last quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC increased its stake 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 worth $2,786,888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 572,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,432,565,000 after purchasing an additional 50,893 shares in the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MercadoLibre Price Performance

Shares of MELI opened at $2,119.83 on Thursday. MercadoLibre has a fifty-two week low of $1,646.00 and a fifty-two week high of $2,645.22. The company has a market cap of $107.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.73, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $2,161.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $2,339.80.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $8.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.88 by ($1.56). The firm had revenue of $7.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.19 billion. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 7.93% and a return on equity of 39.03%. MercadoLibre’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $7.83 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that MercadoLibre will post 43.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.