Sapient Capital LLC Purchases New Position in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 7,335 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,527,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MELI. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC bought a new stake in MercadoLibre in the fourth quarter worth about $8,364,000. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in MercadoLibre by 71.3% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 5,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,743,000 after purchasing an additional 2,316 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its stake in MercadoLibre by 1,742.9% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 516 shares of the company’s stock worth $811,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in MercadoLibre by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 55 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in MercadoLibre by 250.0% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 161 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of MercadoLibre from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $1,800.00 target price on shares of MercadoLibre in a research report on Friday. DZ Bank raised shares of MercadoLibre from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $1,685.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $1,990.00 to $1,940.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $1,850.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MercadoLibre currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,805.00.

MercadoLibre Stock Up 8.3 %

MELI stock traded up $124.57 during trading on Friday, hitting $1,630.56. 1,346,802 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 395,765. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.96, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.45. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 1 year low of $1,063.02 and a 1 year high of $1,825.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,499.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,537.76.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $6.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.64 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.84 billion. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 7.17% and a return on equity of 42.04%. MercadoLibre’s revenue was up 36.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.97 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 34.46 EPS for the current year.

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.