Cozad Asset Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Cozad Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) by 39.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 335 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $526,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MELI. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,558,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,243,832,000 after buying an additional 236,744 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in MercadoLibre by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,233,430 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,831,721,000 after purchasing an additional 28,095 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its position in MercadoLibre by 74.8% during the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 1,162,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,838,964,000 after purchasing an additional 497,535 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in MercadoLibre by 6.1% during the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 411,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $521,492,000 after purchasing an additional 23,699 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in MercadoLibre by 10.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 365,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $462,999,000 after buying an additional 33,801 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.62% of the company’s stock.

MercadoLibre Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MELI opened at $1,456.51 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $73.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.54, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.45. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a 12 month low of $1,063.02 and a 12 month high of $1,825.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $1,505.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,535.16.

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). The company had revenue of $4.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.14 billion. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 6.82% and a return on equity of 39.07%. MercadoLibre’s revenue for the quarter was up 42.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 34.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MELI. DZ Bank raised MercadoLibre from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $1,685.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $1,990.00 to $1,940.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,000.00 to $2,150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,000.00 to $1,800.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price objective on MercadoLibre from $1,850.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,790.36.

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.