Rakuten Securities Inc. Has $172,000 Stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 274.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 101 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $172,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Knuff & Co LLC grew its position in MercadoLibre by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 4,804 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,169,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in MercadoLibre by 123.1% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,729,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Prosperity Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in MercadoLibre by 60.6% in the 4th quarter. Prosperity Wealth Management Inc. now owns 265 shares of the company’s stock valued at $451,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natural Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of MercadoLibre during the fourth quarter worth about $1,973,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MELI shares. Wedbush decreased their price target on MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. New Street Research raised MercadoLibre from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $2,000.00 to $2,300.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,350.00 to $2,760.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $2,402.81.

MercadoLibre Trading Up 2.3 %

NASDAQ MELI opened at $1,990.11 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.64. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,952.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,969.27. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a one year low of $1,324.99 and a one year high of $2,374.54.

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. The firm had revenue of $6.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.94 billion. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 51.89%. Research analysts expect that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 earnings per share 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.