Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Increases Stock Holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI - Free Report) by 41.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,394,255 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 405,425 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 2.75% of MercadoLibre worth $2,370,848,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MELI. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 20.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 59,430 shares of the company's stock worth $121,948,000 after purchasing an additional 10,272 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 37.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 157,688 shares of the company's stock valued at $271,897,000 after buying an additional 43,215 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 1,369 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,328,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 101,511 shares of the company's stock worth $172,613,000 after acquiring an additional 11,166 shares during the period. Finally, Ninety One North America Inc. acquired a new position in MercadoLibre during the 4th quarter worth $4,923,000. 87.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MercadoLibre Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of MELI stock traded down $30.90 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $2,194.95. 101,250 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 423,346. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market cap of $111.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.33, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.62. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $2,050.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,965.16. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $1,419.86 and a fifty-two week high of $2,374.54.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $12.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.21 by $2.40. The firm had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.94 billion. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 51.89%. Equities analysts expect that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,650.00 to $2,560.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on MercadoLibre from $3,000.00 to $2,400.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $1,950.00 to $2,300.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Benchmark began coverage on shares of MercadoLibre in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $2,500.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $2,464.67.

MercadoLibre Company 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.