Stephens Inc. AR Increases Stock Holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. $MELI

Key Points

• Stephens Inc. AR increased its stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. by 58.3% during the second quarter, owning a total of 2,300 shares valued at approximately $6 million by the end of the quarter.
• Several hedge funds, including Jennison Associates LLC and Invesco Ltd., also increased their positions in MercadoLibre, which now has 87.62% institutional ownership.
• MercadoLibre reported earnings of $10.31 EPS, missing estimates, but its revenue grew 33.8% year-over-year, totaling $6.79 billion in the latest quarter.

Stephens Inc. AR lifted its stake in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI - Free Report) by 58.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,300 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 847 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR's holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $6,011,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in MercadoLibre by 1.6% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,154,116 shares of the company's stock worth $2,251,531,000 after purchasing an additional 18,731 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in MercadoLibre by 22.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 570,967 shares of the company's stock worth $1,113,881,000 after purchasing an additional 104,554 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in MercadoLibre by 21.2% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 550,433 shares of the company's stock worth $1,073,823,000 after purchasing an additional 96,283 shares during the last quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP boosted its position in MercadoLibre by 3.3% in the first quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP now owns 530,564 shares of the company's stock worth $1,035,061,000 after purchasing an additional 16,878 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in MercadoLibre by 23.5% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 461,875 shares of the company's stock worth $901,058,000 after purchasing an additional 87,912 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.62% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on MELI. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $2,875.00 price objective on shares of MercadoLibre in a research report on Tuesday. Wedbush set a $2,700.00 price objective on MercadoLibre and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Scotiabank began coverage on MercadoLibre in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They issued a "sector outperform" rating and a $3,500.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on MercadoLibre from $3,000.00 to $2,800.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on MercadoLibre from $2,850.00 to $2,700.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MercadoLibre currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $2,799.12.

MercadoLibre Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ MELI opened at $2,142.05 on Wednesday. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a one year low of $1,646.00 and a one 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 business's fifty day moving average price is $2,328.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $2,352.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $108.60 billion, a PE ratio of 52.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.46.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The company reported $10.31 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $10.48 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 33.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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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