Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI - Free Report) by 20.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,430 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 10,272 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of MercadoLibre worth $121,948,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 1,600.0% in the second quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 17 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. Optimum Investment Advisors grew its stake in MercadoLibre by 750.0% in the 3rd quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 17 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new position in MercadoLibre in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in MercadoLibre in the 2nd quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. lifted its position in MercadoLibre by 35.0% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 27 shares of the company's stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.62% of the company's stock.
Several equities analysts have recently commented on MELI shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $2,200.00 target price (up previously from $2,000.00) on shares of MercadoLibre in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on MercadoLibre from $2,180.00 to $2,480.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Raymond James started coverage on MercadoLibre in a report on Friday, September 27th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $2,350.00 target price for the company. Barclays upped their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,100.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,250.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $2,309.67.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on MercadoLibre
Shares of MELI opened at $1,872.01 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $2,046.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,822.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.26. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a one year low of $1,324.99 and a one year high of $2,161.73. The company has a market cap of $94.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.61.
MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $7.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $11.27 by ($3.44). MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 42.61% and a net margin of 7.57%. The business had revenue of $5.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.25 billion. Research analysts forecast that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 37.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.
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.
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