Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Decreases Stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Key Points

• The Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund decreased its stake in MercadoLibre by 2.8%, resulting in ownership of 10,360 shares worth approximately $20.2 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Capital International Investors and Price T Rowe Associates, significantly increased their holdings in MercadoLibre during the fourth quarter, indicating strong interest in the stock.
• Despite a quarterly earnings miss, MercadoLibre reported a revenue increase of 33.8% year-over-year, and analysts expect an EPS of 43.96 for the current year.

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lowered its position in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI - Free Report) by 2.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,360 shares of the company's stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $20,211,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in MercadoLibre by 38.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,687,114 shares of the company's stock worth $2,868,869,000 after purchasing an additional 470,829 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in MercadoLibre by 41.0% during the fourth 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. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in MercadoLibre by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,568,602 shares of the company's stock worth $2,667,386,000 after purchasing an additional 308,973 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in MercadoLibre by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,415,815 shares of the company's stock worth $4,108,079,000 after purchasing an additional 179,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in MercadoLibre by 170.9% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 274,960 shares of the company's stock worth $536,411,000 after purchasing an additional 173,449 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.62% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MELI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of MercadoLibre in a report on Friday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,600.00 to $2,700.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $2,700.00 price objective on shares of MercadoLibre in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Daiwa Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of MercadoLibre in a report on Friday, August 1st. They set a "buy" rating and a $3,000.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of MercadoLibre in a report on Monday, July 28th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $3,500.00 price objective on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $2,795.00.

MercadoLibre Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MELI opened at $2,327.30 on Thursday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $2,421.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $2,252.11. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 1-year low of $1,646.00 and a 1-year high of $2,645.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market cap of $117.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.46.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The company reported $10.31 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $10.48 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 33.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect 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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