MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday after StockNews.com upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The stock traded as high as $2,501.00 and last traded at $2,412.80, with a volume of 905959 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $2,262.09.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on MELI. New Street Research raised shares of MercadoLibre from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $2,000.00 to $2,300.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MercadoLibre in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $3,100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,400.00 to $2,750.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on MercadoLibre from $1,950.00 to $2,300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $2,504.67.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MercadoLibre

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. CenterBook Partners LP lifted its stake in MercadoLibre by 154.9% in the first quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 2,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,829,000 after buying an additional 1,816 shares during the last quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC lifted its holdings in MercadoLibre by 13.0% in the first quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC now owns 130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $254,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. purchased a new stake in MercadoLibre during the first quarter worth about $7,989,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI purchased a new stake in shares of MercadoLibre during the 1st quarter worth approximately $234,000. Finally, Strategy Asset Managers LLC grew its holdings in MercadoLibre by 3.5% in the first quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 2,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,032,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MercadoLibre Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $124.34 billion, a PE ratio of 65.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.61. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $2,081.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1,982.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.25.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $9.74 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 37.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 EPS 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.