MercadoLibre, Inc. $MELI Shares Sold by Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD reduced its holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. by 1.6% in Q1, now owning approximately 2.70% of the company valued at $2.67 billion.
• Analysts have set varied price targets for MercadoLibre shares, with ranges from $2,600 to $2,975, indicating a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".
• MercadoLibre reported a quarterly revenue of $6.79 billion, exceeding analyst expectations, despite earnings per share falling short of estimates.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lowered its stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI - Free Report) by 1.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,371,311 shares of the company's stock after selling 22,944 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 2.70% of MercadoLibre worth $2,675,251,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MELI. Key Financial Inc acquired a new position in MercadoLibre in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. GW&K Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in MercadoLibre in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in MercadoLibre in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Close Asset Management Ltd lifted its position in MercadoLibre by 366.7% in the first quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 14 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in MercadoLibre by 650.0% during the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 15 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.62% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MELI. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,900.00 to $2,850.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,640.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of MercadoLibre in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded MercadoLibre from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, June 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and set a $2,750.00 price target on shares of MercadoLibre in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MercadoLibre currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $2,817.22.

MercadoLibre Trading Up 4.0%

MELI traded up $93.18 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $2,430.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 436,058 shares, compared to its average volume of 369,414. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $123.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.03, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $2,411.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $2,275.89. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 52-week low of $1,646.00 and a 52-week high of $2,645.22.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.57 billion. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 8.52% and a return on equity of 43.06%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 33.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $10.48 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 earnings per share 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.