Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Increases Stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 1,100.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $73,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MELI. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 1,600.0% in the second quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 17 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors raised its position in MercadoLibre by 750.0% during the 3rd quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 17 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new stake in MercadoLibre during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of MercadoLibre in the 2nd quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 35.0% in the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 27 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 7 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on MELI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,180.00 to $2,480.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com cut MercadoLibre from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 10th. BTIG Research cut their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,250.00 to $2,200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Barclays upped their price objective on MercadoLibre from $2,100.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,480.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $2,309.67.

MercadoLibre Stock Up 5.5 %

MELI stock opened at $1,872.01 on Friday. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a one year low of $1,324.99 and a one year high of $2,161.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company has a fifty day moving average of $2,046.45 and a 200-day moving average of $1,822.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.91 billion, a PE ratio of 66.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.61.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $7.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.27 by ($3.44). The business had revenue of $5.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.25 billion. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 7.57% and a return on equity of 42.61%. As a group, analysts expect that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 37.28 EPS for the current year.

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.