Lazard Asset Management LLC Sells 1,500 Shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Lazard Asset Management LLC decreased its position in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI - Free Report) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 34,057 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,500 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned about 0.07% of MercadoLibre worth $57,912,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Human Investing LLC purchased a new stake in MercadoLibre in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 220.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 16 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 16 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 8 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd purchased a new position in MercadoLibre during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in MercadoLibre in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 87.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on MELI. New Street Research raised MercadoLibre from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $2,000.00 to $2,300.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James upgraded shares of MercadoLibre from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $2,250.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective 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. StockNews.com downgraded MercadoLibre from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of MercadoLibre in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MercadoLibre currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $2,521.33.

MercadoLibre Stock Performance

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

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 net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 51.89%. The business had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.78 EPS. MercadoLibre's revenue was up 37.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict 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.