Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 1,764 Shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Franklin Resources Inc. lowered its stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 398,378 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,764 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $677,418,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MELI. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in MercadoLibre in the fourth quarter valued at $565,306,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in MercadoLibre during the fourth quarter worth about $383,051,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its holdings in MercadoLibre by 169,952.3% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 181,956 shares of the company’s stock worth $309,405,000 after purchasing an additional 181,849 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in MercadoLibre by 52.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 349,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $717,525,000 after buying an additional 120,922 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in MercadoLibre in the third quarter valued at approximately $114,417,000. Institutional investors own 87.62% of the company’s stock.

MercadoLibre Trading Down 4.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MELI opened at $1,950.87 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $2,030.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,972.33. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 1 year low of $1,324.99 and a 1 year high of $2,374.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The company has a market capitalization of $98.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.64.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $12.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.21 by $2.40. The company had revenue of $6.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.94 billion. MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 51.89% and a net margin of 9.20%. On average, research analysts anticipate that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on MELI shares. Susquehanna lifted their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,350.00 to $2,760.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $1,950.00 to $2,300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays increased their price objective 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. New Street Research upgraded shares of MercadoLibre from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $2,000.00 to $2,300.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,400.00 to $2,750.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Two 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus 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.