MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 761,500 shares, a growth of 20.9% from the February 13th total of 629,800 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 406,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on MELI shares. Wedbush lowered their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Susquehanna increased their price target 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. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,150.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. 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 report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $1,950.00 to $2,300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $2,402.81.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MercadoLibre

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MELI. Human Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of MercadoLibre in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in MercadoLibre during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in MercadoLibre by 220.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 16 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the period. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. increased its stake in MercadoLibre by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 16 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 8 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd purchased a new stake in MercadoLibre during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.62% of the company’s stock.

MercadoLibre Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MELI opened at $2,065.94 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $104.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.64. MercadoLibre has a fifty-two week low of $1,324.99 and a fifty-two week high of $2,374.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $1,984.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,970.03.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $12.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.94 billion. Analysts expect that MercadoLibre will post 43.96 EPS 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.