Candriam S.C.A. Reduces Stock Position in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Candriam S.C.A. reduced its stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 36.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 30,397 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,426 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $51,688,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MELI. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in MercadoLibre by 169,952.3% in the 4th 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. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in MercadoLibre by 18.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 878,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,803,665,000 after buying an additional 137,564 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in MercadoLibre by 52.9% in the 3rd 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 period. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in MercadoLibre by 352.8% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 94,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,137,000 after purchasing an additional 73,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in MercadoLibre by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,873,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,845,207,000 after purchasing an additional 70,154 shares in the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MercadoLibre Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MELI opened at $2,112.77 on Thursday. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $1,324.99 and a fifty-two week high of $2,374.54. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,930.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,969.77. 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 stock has a market cap of $107.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.62.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 51.89% and a net margin of 9.20%. The firm had revenue of $6.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.94 billion. Equities analysts expect that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on MELI shares. Wedbush cut their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. New Street Research raised shares of MercadoLibre from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $2,000.00 to $2,300.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $2,450.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays raised 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,400.00 to $2,750.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MercadoLibre currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $2,402.81.

MercadoLibre Company 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.