Allen Investment Management LLC Acquires 3,358 Shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Allen Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 24.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,941 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,358 shares during the period. Allen Investment Management LLC’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $25,614,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 23.9% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,404,000 after acquiring an additional 1,329 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 27.1% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 1,191 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,801,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 2.5% in the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock worth $632,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the period. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 1.9% in the first quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 208,985 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,977,000 after acquiring an additional 3,880 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 446.9% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,336 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,628,000 after acquiring an additional 8,446 shares during the period. 87.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MercadoLibre Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MELI traded up $52.57 on Friday, reaching $1,761.22. 335,287 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 254,374. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,661.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,611.18. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 52 week low of $1,126.84 and a 52 week high of $1,825.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $6.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.64 by $0.14. MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 39.46% and a net margin of 7.17%. The firm had revenue of $4.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.84 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 36.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 33.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. DZ Bank raised MercadoLibre from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $1,685.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. New Street Research downgraded MercadoLibre from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on MercadoLibre from $1,900.00 to $1,800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,800.00 price objective on shares of MercadoLibre in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on MercadoLibre from $1,990.00 to $1,940.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,922.08.

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.