Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI Increases Stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI increased its position in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 203 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $345,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MELI. Human Investing LLC bought a new stake in MercadoLibre in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 220.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 16 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. boosted its holdings in MercadoLibre by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 16 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 8 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in MercadoLibre during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. grew its position in MercadoLibre by 171.4% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 19 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MercadoLibre Stock Performance

MELI stock opened at $2,009.34 on Friday. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a one year low of $1,324.99 and a one year high of $2,374.54. The firm has a market cap of $101.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.30, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,942.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,969.92.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,150.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Wedbush lowered their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,350.00 to $2,760.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,480.00 to $2,450.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, New Street Research raised MercadoLibre from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $2,000.00 to $2,300.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MercadoLibre presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $2,402.81.

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.