Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $16.58 Million Stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. reduced its holdings in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 14.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,753 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,661 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $16,584,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Human Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of MercadoLibre in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in MercadoLibre by 220.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 16 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. boosted its position in MercadoLibre by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 16 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 8 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in MercadoLibre in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. increased its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 171.4% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 19 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup cut their price objective on MercadoLibre from $2,480.00 to $2,450.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. New Street Research upgraded shares of MercadoLibre from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $2,000.00 to $2,300.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted 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 report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Raymond James upgraded MercadoLibre from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $2,250.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $2,402.81.

MercadoLibre Stock Performance

MELI opened at $1,944.61 on Tuesday. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,946.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,969.34. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 1 year low of $1,324.99 and a 1 year high of $2,374.54. The company has a market capitalization of $98.59 billion, a PE ratio of 51.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.64.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $12.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.21 by $2.40. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 51.89%. The business had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.94 billion. Research analysts expect that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 43.96 EPS 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.