Achmea Investment Management B.V. Raises Stock Holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Achmea Investment Management B.V. increased its stake in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,623 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 51 shares during the quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V.’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $6,160,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of MercadoLibre during the 3rd quarter valued at about $114,417,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in MercadoLibre by 20.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 59,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,948,000 after buying an additional 10,272 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in MercadoLibre by 205.5% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 26,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,923,000 after buying an additional 17,677 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position 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 worth $271,897,000 after acquiring an additional 43,215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 1,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,328,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. 87.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MELI. New Street Research raised shares of MercadoLibre from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $2,000.00 to $2,300.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James upgraded MercadoLibre from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $2,250.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wedbush cut their target price on 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. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,350.00 to $2,760.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $2,402.81.

MercadoLibre Stock Down 0.8 %

MELI stock opened at $1,989.70 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,963.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,969.66. The firm has a market cap of $100.87 billion, a PE ratio of 52.78, a P/E/G 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 12 month low of $1,324.99 and a 12 month high of $2,374.54.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $12.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.21 by $2.40. The firm had revenue of $6.06 billion for 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.