Westpac Banking Corp Increases Stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Westpac Banking Corp lifted its position in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 46.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,151 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 680 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $3,658,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Human Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of MercadoLibre during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in MercadoLibre by 220.0% in the 4th 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. lifted its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 100.0% in the 4th 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. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of MercadoLibre during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. increased its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 171.4% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 19 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the period. 87.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Susquehanna upped their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,350.00 to $2,760.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America increased their price objective on MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Wedbush reduced their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. New Street Research raised shares of MercadoLibre from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $2,000.00 to $2,300.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MercadoLibre presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $2,402.81.

MercadoLibre Stock Performance

MELI stock opened at $1,934.03 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $98.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.22. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 1 year low of $1,324.99 and a 1 year high of $2,374.54. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $2,034.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,970.61.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $12.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.21 by $2.40. MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 51.89% and a net margin of 9.20%. The business had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.94 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 earnings per share for the current year.

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.