AIA Group Ltd Cuts Stock Holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Key Points

• AIA Group Ltd reduced its stock holdings in MercadoLibre by 7.3%, owning 8,818 shares valued at approximately $17.2 million after selling 695 shares in Q1.
• Despite the decrease in holdings, 87.62% of MercadoLibre's stock is owned by hedge funds and institutional investors, highlighting strong institutional interest.
• MercadoLibre reported earnings per share of $10.31 for the last quarter, missing estimates by $1.70, but showed strong revenue growth with a year-over-year increase of 33.8%.

AIA Group Ltd lowered its stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI - Free Report) by 7.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,818 shares of the company's stock after selling 695 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd's holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $17,203,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MELI. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its holdings in MercadoLibre by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 790 shares of the company's stock worth $1,542,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. SouthState Corp purchased a new position in MercadoLibre in the first quarter worth about $41,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in MercadoLibre in the first quarter worth about $143,367,000. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its stake in MercadoLibre by 732.7% in the first quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 4,605 shares of the company's stock worth $8,983,000 after purchasing an additional 4,052 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in MercadoLibre in the first quarter worth about $10,919,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.62% of the company's stock.

MercadoLibre Stock Performance

Shares of MELI traded down $7.50 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $2,319.80. The stock had a trading volume of 285,814 shares, compared to its average volume of 394,616. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $2,421.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $2,252.11. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $1,646.00 and a fifty-two week high of $2,645.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $117.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.29, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.46.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The company reported $10.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $12.01 by ($1.70). MercadoLibre had a net margin of 8.52% and a return on equity of 43.06%. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $10.48 earnings per share. MercadoLibre's revenue was up 33.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MELI. UBS Group set a $3,000.00 price target on shares of MercadoLibre in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Scotiabank started coverage on MercadoLibre in a report on Monday, July 28th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $3,500.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen lowered MercadoLibre from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $2,700.00 target price on shares of MercadoLibre in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of MercadoLibre in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $2,795.00.

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.