Magnetar Financial LLC Decreases Stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Magnetar Financial LLC reduced its holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 93.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 189 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,916 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. GS Investments Inc. increased its position in MercadoLibre by 183.0% during the fourth quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 1,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,262,000 after purchasing an additional 860 shares during the last quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson increased its position in MercadoLibre by 54.7% during the fourth quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 232 shares of the company’s stock worth $395,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in MercadoLibre by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 257,717 shares of the company’s stock worth $438,232,000 after purchasing an additional 21,063 shares during the last quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC increased its position in MercadoLibre by 439.6% during the fourth quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 723 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,229,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment House LLC increased its position in MercadoLibre by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Investment House LLC now owns 14,711 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,016,000 after purchasing an additional 928 shares during the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MELI shares. Wedbush cut 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. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,150.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,350.00 to $2,760.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Two investment 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $2,402.81.

MercadoLibre Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of MercadoLibre stock opened at $2,095.27 on Friday. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 52-week low of $1,324.99 and a 52-week high of $2,374.54. The company has a 50 day moving average of $1,997.59 and a 200 day moving average of $1,970.80. 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 company has a market capitalization of $106.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.64.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last issued its quarterly 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. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 51.89%. The company had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.94 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 EPS for the current fiscal 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.