MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at New Street Research

Research analysts at New Street Research started coverage on shares of MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Briefing.com reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $2,450.00 price target on the stock. New Street Research’s target price points to a potential upside of 35.93% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the company. Zacks Research raised MercadoLibre from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $2,150.00 target price on shares of MercadoLibre in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $1,900.00 to $2,150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MercadoLibre in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on MercadoLibre from $1,950.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MercadoLibre presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $2,283.12.

MercadoLibre Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of MELI stock traded down $24.21 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $1,802.37. 39,700 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 533,533. MercadoLibre has a twelve month low of $1,495.00 and a twelve month high of $2,548.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.31. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,878.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,770.30.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $9.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.65 by $0.54. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 5.30% and a return on equity of 26.54%. The business had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $10.31 EPS. MercadoLibre’s revenue was up 49.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that MercadoLibre will post 39.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of MercadoLibre

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MELI. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in MercadoLibre by 22.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,225,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,481,812,000 after purchasing an additional 408,939 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in MercadoLibre by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,725,125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,474,880,000 after buying an additional 118,018 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MercadoLibre in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,246,015,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 1.7% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 614,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,062,019,000 after acquiring an additional 10,142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Linonia Partnership LP increased its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 325.1% during the second quarter. Linonia Partnership LP now owns 553,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $939,994,000 after acquiring an additional 423,527 shares in the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About MercadoLibre

MercadoLibre, Inc is a technology company that operates an online commerce and financial services ecosystem across Latin America. Founded in 1999 by Marcos Galperin, the company began as an online marketplace and has expanded into a broad platform serving consumers, merchants and businesses.

Its marketplace enables users to buy and sell products across categories, while Mercado Pago provides digital payments, online checkout, money transfers and other financial services. The company also offers Mercado Envíos logistics and fulfillment services, Mercado Ads advertising solutions, and credit products through Mercado Crédito.