Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Grows Holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI - Free Report) by 30.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,852 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 428 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.'s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $3,613,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MELI. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 1,369 shares of the company's stock worth $2,328,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Prospect Financial Services LLC increased its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 41.7% during the 1st quarter. Prospect Financial Services LLC now owns 340 shares of the company's stock worth $663,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 34.1% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,503 shares of the company's stock worth $5,957,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares in the last quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd increased its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 43.6% during the 4th quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 3,249 shares of the company's stock worth $5,525,000 after purchasing an additional 987 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avant Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MercadoLibre during the 4th quarter worth approximately $316,000. 87.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on MELI. 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 Friday, May 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price 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. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of MercadoLibre in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,250.00 to $2,600.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MercadoLibre presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $2,632.50.

MercadoLibre Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:MELI traded up $3.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $2,371.98. 341,577 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 385,718. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.25. The company has a market cap of $120.25 billion, a PE ratio of 62.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.51. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $2,330.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2,072.57. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a twelve month low of $1,550.00 and a twelve month high of $2,635.88.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $9.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.82 by $1.92. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 51.89%. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $6.78 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 37.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MercadoLibre Profile

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.