Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Increases Holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI - Free Report) by 569.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,031 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 877 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $1,753,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in MercadoLibre by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 1,369 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,328,000 after buying an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in MercadoLibre by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 101,511 shares of the company's stock valued at $172,613,000 after buying an additional 11,166 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. bought a new position in MercadoLibre during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,923,000. Paragon Capital Management Inc. increased its position in MercadoLibre by 58.5% during the 4th quarter. Paragon Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,637 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,784,000 after buying an additional 604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vinland Capital Management Gestora de Recursos LTDA. bought a new position in MercadoLibre during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $63,613,000. Institutional investors own 87.62% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna raised their price objective on MercadoLibre from $2,350.00 to $2,760.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America increased their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on MercadoLibre from $3,000.00 to $2,400.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,640.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Benchmark downgraded MercadoLibre from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MercadoLibre presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $2,521.33.

MercadoLibre Stock Performance

NASDAQ MELI traded down $1.57 on Friday, hitting $2,584.92. 279,704 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 383,139. The company has a market capitalization of $131.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The business's 50 day moving average price is $2,135.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,999.73. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 52-week low of $1,550.00 and a 52-week high of $2,610.30.

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