Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Increases Position in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI - Free Report) by 16.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,304 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,459 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.'s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $17,521,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Human Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MercadoLibre in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 220.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 16 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. lifted its position in MercadoLibre by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 16 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 8 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd purchased a new position in MercadoLibre in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MercadoLibre during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.62% of the company's stock.

MercadoLibre Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ MELI traded down $1.57 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $2,584.92. 279,704 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 382,530. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 12-month low of $1,550.00 and a 12-month high of $2,612.49. The firm has a market cap of $131.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $2,123.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,996.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.25.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $9.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $7.82 by $1.92. MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 51.89% and a net margin of 9.20%. 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 prior year, the business earned $6.78 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 37.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MELI. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $3,000.00 to $2,400.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. StockNews.com lowered shares of MercadoLibre from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of MercadoLibre in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Benchmark cut MercadoLibre from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $2,521.33.

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.