National Bank of Canada FI Purchases 19,345 Shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 183.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,892 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,345 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $45,706,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in MercadoLibre by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 7,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,017,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in MercadoLibre by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 3,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,861,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its stake in MercadoLibre by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 438 shares of the company’s stock worth $555,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in MercadoLibre in the 3rd quarter worth $255,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in MercadoLibre by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 116,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,258,000 after acquiring an additional 2,153 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.62% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on MELI. Barclays cut their price target on MercadoLibre from $2,000.00 to $1,800.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,800.00 target price on shares of MercadoLibre in a research report on Friday. DZ Bank upgraded MercadoLibre from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $1,685.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com cut MercadoLibre from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on MercadoLibre from $1,850.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,805.00.

MercadoLibre Stock Performance

NASDAQ MELI traded up $19.79 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $1,650.35. 390,988 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 402,449. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 12-month low of $1,063.02 and a 12-month high of $1,825.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $83.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $1,499.29 and a 200 day moving average of $1,542.15.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $6.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.64 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.84 billion. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 7.17% and a return on equity of 42.04%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 36.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 34.46 earnings per share for the current year.

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.