MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI - Free Report) by 43.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 85,443 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 26,013 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.17% of MercadoLibre worth $145,291,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MELI. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in MercadoLibre by 220.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 16 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the period. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. increased its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 16 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 8 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MercadoLibre during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Mather Group LLC. increased its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 171.4% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 19 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 120.0% during the fourth quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 22 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. 87.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at MercadoLibre

In other news, Director Emiliano Calemzuk sold 50 shares of MercadoLibre stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,984.98, for a total transaction of $99,249.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 238 shares in the company, valued at approximately $472,425.24. The trade was a 17.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MercadoLibre Stock Up 7.1 %

MELI traded up $149.53 during trading on Friday, hitting $2,260.00. The stock had a trading volume of 1,256,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 371,354. The company has a market capitalization of $114.58 billion, a PE ratio of 79.75, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.62. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a twelve month low of $1,324.99 and a twelve month high of $2,374.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,867.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,956.30.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $12.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.21 by $2.40. The company had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.94 billion. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 7.57% and a return on equity of 40.71%. On average, research analysts predict that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 32.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MELI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wedbush reduced their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,200.00 to $2,100.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Susquehanna raised their target price 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. New Street Research raised shares of MercadoLibre from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $2,000.00 to $2,300.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,480.00 to $2,450.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of MercadoLibre from $2,500.00 to $2,450.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MercadoLibre has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $2,364.06.

MercadoLibre 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.