Polar Capital Holdings Plc Decreases Stock Position in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Polar Capital Holdings Plc decreased its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 31.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 75,852 shares of the company’s stock after selling 35,313 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $128,982,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MELI. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 157 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 247 shares of the company’s stock valued at $434,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in MercadoLibre in the 4th quarter worth $340,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in MercadoLibre by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 101,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,613,000 after acquiring an additional 11,166 shares during the period. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in MercadoLibre by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,017,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MELI shares. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of MercadoLibre in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $1,950.00 to $2,300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Benchmark cut shares of MercadoLibre from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,350.00 to $2,760.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on MercadoLibre from $3,000.00 to $2,400.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $2,521.33.

MercadoLibre Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MELI opened at $2,564.00 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.99 billion, a PE ratio of 68.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.61. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $1,550.00 and a fifty-two week high of $2,564.03. The company has a fifty day moving average of $2,110.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1,992.37.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $9.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.82 by $1.92. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.55 billion. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 51.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 37.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.78 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.