Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Cuts Holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. decreased its stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 33,154 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,374 shares during the quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $56,376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital International Investors increased its stake in MercadoLibre by 38.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,687,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,868,869,000 after acquiring an additional 470,829 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 41.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,394,255 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,370,848,000 after purchasing an additional 405,425 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of MercadoLibre during the 4th quarter valued at about $565,306,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 24.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,568,602 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,667,386,000 after buying an additional 308,973 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in MercadoLibre in the 4th quarter worth approximately $383,051,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on MELI. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,640.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MercadoLibre in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $1,950.00 to $2,300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on MercadoLibre from $3,000.00 to $2,400.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $2,521.33.

MercadoLibre Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ MELI opened at $2,584.92 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $2,135.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,999.73. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 12 month low of $1,550.00 and a 12 month high of $2,610.30. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $131.05 billion, a PE ratio of 68.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.61.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $9.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.82 by $1.92. The company had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.55 billion. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 51.89%. MercadoLibre’s revenue was up 37.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $6.78 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 earnings per share for the current year.

About MercadoLibre

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.