American Century Companies Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. reduced its stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. by 8.8% in the first quarter, now owning 144,931 shares valued at approximately $282.7 million.
• Various large investors have made changes to their positions in MercadoLibre, with LWM Advisory Services increasing their holdings by 41% in the same quarter.
• Analysts have generally positive ratings for MercadoLibre, with a consensus price target of $2,795 and several firms issuing buy ratings.

American Century Companies Inc. decreased its holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI - Free Report) by 8.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 144,931 shares of the company's stock after selling 14,009 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.29% of MercadoLibre worth $282,742,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. LWM Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 41.0% in the first quarter. LWM Advisory Services LLC now owns 172 shares of the company's stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Legal Advantage Investments Inc. lifted its position in MercadoLibre by 3.8% during the first quarter. Legal Advantage Investments Inc. now owns 1,631 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,182,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in MercadoLibre during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,685,000. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in MercadoLibre during the first quarter valued at approximately $390,000. Finally, Ground Swell Capital LLC bought a new stake in MercadoLibre during the first quarter valued at approximately $439,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.62% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wedbush set a $2,700.00 target price on shares of MercadoLibre and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Daiwa Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of MercadoLibre in a research note on Friday, August 1st. They set a "buy" rating and a $3,000.00 price target on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $3,100.00 to $3,000.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and set a $2,875.00 price target on shares of MercadoLibre in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, 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, May 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $2,795.00.

MercadoLibre Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MELI opened at $2,319.80 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $117.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.46. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $2,416.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2,255.38. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a twelve month low of $1,646.00 and a twelve month high of $2,645.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

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

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