Balboa Wealth Partners Grows Position in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Balboa Wealth Partners raised its stake in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 38.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 468 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. Balboa Wealth Partners’ holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $796,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MELI. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in MercadoLibre by 352.8% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 94,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,137,000 after purchasing an additional 73,336 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 160 shares of the company’s stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of MercadoLibre in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $140,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 19.9% in the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 427 shares of the company’s stock valued at $876,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Platform Technology Partners bought a new position in shares of MercadoLibre in the third quarter valued at approximately $250,000. 87.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MercadoLibre Trading Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ MELI opened at $2,004.83 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $1,958.74 and a 200-day moving average of $1,969.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 1-year low of $1,324.99 and a 1-year high of $2,374.54. The firm has a market cap of $101.64 billion, a PE ratio of 53.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.64.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $12.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.21 by $2.40. MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 51.89% and a net margin of 9.20%. The firm had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.94 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on MercadoLibre from $1,950.00 to $2,300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Susquehanna upped their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on MercadoLibre from $2,400.00 to $2,750.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Raymond James raised shares of MercadoLibre from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $2,250.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Two research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MercadoLibre currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $2,402.81.

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.