Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 529 Shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lessened its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 87,533 shares of the company’s stock after selling 529 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned 0.17% of MercadoLibre worth $148,845,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in MercadoLibre in the 3rd quarter valued at about $114,417,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 20.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 59,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,948,000 after purchasing an additional 10,272 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 37.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 157,688 shares of the company’s stock valued at $271,897,000 after buying an additional 43,215 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in MercadoLibre by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 1,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,328,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 40.0% in the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 2,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,598,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MELI has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,400.00 to $2,750.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Susquehanna upped their price objective on MercadoLibre from $2,350.00 to $2,760.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Raymond James upgraded MercadoLibre from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $2,250.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,150.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $1,950.00 to $2,300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MercadoLibre presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $2,402.81.

MercadoLibre Stock Down 2.3 %

MercadoLibre stock opened at $2,048.07 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $103.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.64. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $2,028.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,973.66. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 1-year low of $1,324.99 and a 1-year high of $2,374.54. 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 (NASDAQ:MELI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $12.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.21 by $2.40. The company had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.94 billion. MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 51.89% and a net margin of 9.20%. On average, analysts predict that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 earnings per share for the current year.

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.