MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) Short Interest Up 20.9% in February

MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) was the recipient 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. Based on an average daily volume of 406,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days. Approximately 1.6% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MercadoLibre

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MELI. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,400.00 to $2,750.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,150.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Raymond James upgraded shares of MercadoLibre from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $2,250.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MercadoLibre presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $2,402.81.

MercadoLibre Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MELI traded down $103.66 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $2,002.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 436,033 shares, compared to its average volume of 363,622. MercadoLibre has a 12-month low of $1,324.99 and a 12-month high of $2,374.54. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $1,977.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,969.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market cap of $101.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.12, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.64.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $12.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.94 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that MercadoLibre will post 43.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.