Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Acquires New Stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 11,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,578,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 442.2% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 794,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,201,679,000 after purchasing an additional 648,198 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in MercadoLibre by 74.8% in the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 1,162,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,838,964,000 after acquiring an additional 497,535 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MercadoLibre in the 4th quarter worth approximately $554,386,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in MercadoLibre by 43.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 771,893 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,167,073,000 after acquiring an additional 232,787 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in MercadoLibre by 112,333.8% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 146,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $229,703,000 after acquiring an additional 146,034 shares in the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MercadoLibre Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ MELI traded up $26.68 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $1,652.83. 78,774 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 360,707. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.25. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a twelve month low of $1,141.04 and a twelve month high of $1,825.00. The company has a market cap of $83.80 billion, a PE ratio of 72.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.60. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,648.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,619.63.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $6.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.64 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $4.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.84 billion. MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 39.46% and a net margin of 7.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 36.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.97 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 33.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on MELI. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,800.00 target price on shares of MercadoLibre in a report on Friday, May 3rd. DZ Bank upgraded shares of MercadoLibre from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $1,685.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $1,800.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of MercadoLibre from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $1,400.00 to $2,100.00 in a report on Monday, May 20th. Finally, New Street Research lowered shares of MercadoLibre from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,922.08.

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.