MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) Upgraded to “Buy” by DZ Bank

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) was upgraded by DZ Bank from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $1,685.00 price target on the stock. DZ Bank’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 22.99% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on MELI. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $1,850.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,000.00 to $2,150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $2,000.00 price target on shares of MercadoLibre in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $1,900.00 to $1,800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of MercadoLibre from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,790.36.

MercadoLibre Stock Performance

MELI stock opened at $1,370.00 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $69.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.11, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.44. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,538.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,528.66. MercadoLibre has a one year low of $1,063.02 and a one year high of $1,825.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.27.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $3.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.66 by ($3.41). MercadoLibre had a net margin of 6.82% and a return on equity of 39.07%. The company had revenue of $4.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.25 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 42.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that MercadoLibre will post 35.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MELI. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 74.8% during the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 1,162,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,838,964,000 after buying an additional 497,535 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of MercadoLibre during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $554,386,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,558,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,243,832,000 after buying an additional 236,744 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 112,333.8% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 146,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $229,703,000 after buying an additional 146,034 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 1,432.2% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 127,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $200,140,000 after buying an additional 119,043 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.62% of the company’s stock.

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.