MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) Hits New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $2,640.00 to $3,000.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. MercadoLibre traded as high as $2,564.03 and last traded at $2,564.00, with a volume of 317206 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $2,515.12.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on MELI. StockNews.com raised shares of MercadoLibre from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Benchmark cut shares of MercadoLibre from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Susquehanna boosted 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 report on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of MercadoLibre in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $3,100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $2,521.33.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 375.0% in the 1st quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 19 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in MercadoLibre by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 760 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,483,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Vancity Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in MercadoLibre during the 1st quarter worth $408,000. Adalta Capital Management LLC raised its position in MercadoLibre by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. Adalta Capital Management LLC now owns 2,055 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,009,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co raised its position in MercadoLibre by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 1,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,017,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MercadoLibre Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $131.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.61. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $2,135.04 and a 200-day moving average of $1,999.88.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $9.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.82 by $1.92. MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 51.89% and a net margin of 9.20%. The business had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.55 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $6.78 EPS. MercadoLibre’s revenue for the quarter was up 37.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.