Cantor Fitzgerald Initiates Coverage on MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI)

Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $2,530.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on MELI. Jefferies Financial Group raised MercadoLibre from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their target price for the company from $1,400.00 to $2,100.00 in a report on Monday, May 20th. BTIG Research increased their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,025.00 to $2,250.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Barclays increased their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,000.00 to $2,100.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Dbs Bank raised MercadoLibre from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on MercadoLibre from $2,180.00 to $2,480.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $2,141.25.

MercadoLibre Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MELI opened at $1,986.05 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $100.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.86, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.61. 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 has a 1 year low of $1,141.04 and a 1 year high of $2,064.76. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $1,814.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,659.56.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $10.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.53 by $1.95. The firm had revenue of $5.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 43.52% and a net margin of 8.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 41.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.16 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that MercadoLibre will post 35.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MercadoLibre

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MELI. GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in MercadoLibre by 442.2% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 794,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,201,679,000 after buying an additional 648,198 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MercadoLibre during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $554,386,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in MercadoLibre by 43.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 771,893 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,167,073,000 after buying an additional 232,787 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in MercadoLibre during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,913,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in MercadoLibre by 55.8% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 368,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $557,225,000 after buying an additional 132,028 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.