Bennbridge Ltd Acquires New Shares in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Bennbridge Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 13,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,782,000. MercadoLibre accounts for 24.2% of Bennbridge Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MELI. Swedbank AB boosted its position in MercadoLibre by 352.8% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 94,123 shares of the company’s stock valued at $193,137,000 after purchasing an additional 73,336 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in MercadoLibre by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $328,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in MercadoLibre during the 3rd quarter valued at $140,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in MercadoLibre by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 427 shares of the company’s stock valued at $876,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Platform Technology Partners bought a new stake in MercadoLibre during the 3rd quarter valued at $250,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.62% of the company’s stock.

MercadoLibre Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MELI opened at $2,004.83 on Thursday. 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 capitalization of $101.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.18, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.64. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,958.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,969.52. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 52-week low of $1,324.99 and a 52-week high of $2,374.54.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $12.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.21 by $2.40. The business had revenue of $6.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.94 billion. MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 51.89% and a net margin of 9.20%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on MELI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on MercadoLibre from $1,950.00 to $2,300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,350.00 to $2,760.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,150.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America lifted their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, New Street Research raised MercadoLibre from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $2,402.81.

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.