Short Interest in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) Grows By 20.9%

MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in 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. Currently, 1.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

MercadoLibre Price Performance

NASDAQ MELI traded up $27.70 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $2,095.27. 441,808 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 363,220. MercadoLibre has a 52-week low of $1,324.99 and a 52-week high of $2,374.54. The company has a market capitalization of $106.22 billion, a PE ratio of 55.58, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The firm's 50-day moving average is $1,997.59 and its 200-day moving average is $1,970.94.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $12.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.21 by $2.40. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 51.89%. The company had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.94 billion. Equities analysts forecast that MercadoLibre will post 43.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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Institutional Trading of MercadoLibre

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MELI. Human Investing LLC acquired a new position in MercadoLibre in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in MercadoLibre in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in MercadoLibre by 220.0% in 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 last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. boosted its holdings in MercadoLibre by 100.0% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd acquired a new position in MercadoLibre in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.62% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MELI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,400.00 to $2,750.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Raymond James upgraded shares of MercadoLibre from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $2,250.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $1,950.00 to $2,300.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,350.00 to $2,760.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $2,402.81.

MercadoLibre Company Profile

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.