Aberdeen Group plc Sells 30,285 Shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. $MELI

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc reduced its stake in MercadoLibre by 29.3%, ending with approximately 72,920 shares valued at $142 million.
• Analysts have issued varying ratings for MercadoLibre, with 14 analysts rating it as a buy and a consensus target price of $2,795.
• MercadoLibre reported earnings per share of $10.31, missing the consensus estimate of $12.01, while its revenue increased by 33.8% year-over-year.

Aberdeen Group plc lessened its stake in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI - Free Report) by 29.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,920 shares of the company's stock after selling 30,285 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc owned approximately 0.14% of MercadoLibre worth $142,014,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MELI. Banco Santander S.A. increased its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 221.9% in the first quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 2,746 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,357,000 after buying an additional 1,893 shares in the last quarter. Prospect Financial Services LLC lifted its position in MercadoLibre by 41.7% in the first quarter. Prospect Financial Services LLC now owns 340 shares of the company's stock valued at $663,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in MercadoLibre in the 1st quarter valued at about $203,000. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd raised its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 43.6% in the fourth quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 3,249 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,525,000 after acquiring an additional 987 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avant Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MercadoLibre during the 4th quarter worth $316,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.62% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MELI has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group set a $3,000.00 target price on shares of MercadoLibre in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of MercadoLibre from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 22nd. 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 report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $2,750.00 target price on shares of MercadoLibre in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Wedbush set a $2,700.00 price objective on shares of MercadoLibre and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MercadoLibre has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $2,795.00.

MercadoLibre Trading Up 3.1%

NASDAQ:MELI traded up $72.50 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $2,392.30. The company had a trading volume of 411,196 shares, compared to its average volume of 363,335. 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 cap of $121.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.46. 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 business's fifty day moving average is $2,414.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2,263.57.

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). MercadoLibre had a net margin of 8.52% and a return on equity of 43.06%. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $10.48 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 33.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect 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.