MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Benchmark

Analysts at Benchmark started coverage on shares of MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) in a report issued on Tuesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $2,500.00 price target on the stock. Benchmark’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 22.72% from the stock’s current price.

MELI has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Wedbush lowered their price target on MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James raised MercadoLibre from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $2,250.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. New Street Research upgraded MercadoLibre from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $2,000.00 to $2,300.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price target on MercadoLibre from $2,350.00 to $2,760.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MercadoLibre currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $2,415.00.

MercadoLibre Stock Performance

Shares of MELI stock opened at $2,037.12 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $103.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.62. MercadoLibre has a one year low of $1,324.99 and a one year high of $2,374.54. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $2,037.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,957.73.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 51.89% and a net margin of 9.20%. The business had revenue of $6.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.94 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MercadoLibre will post 43.96 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MercadoLibre

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Human Investing LLC acquired a new position in MercadoLibre in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of MercadoLibre in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 220.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 acquired a new stake in MercadoLibre in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. 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.