GetCoattail Research — The Filing Tape #204. MercadoLibre, Inc. (MELI) through six filing lenses, as of the latest filings. Past patterns are not a promise of future results. For education only — not investment advice.
The Hype
MercadoLibre is in front of readers on October 26, 2026, for a political reason, not an earnings reason. The Wall Street Journal's "Stocks to Watch" for October 26 reports that Brazil-linked shares slid after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva unexpectedly beat Flávio Bolsonaro in Sunday's election: XP tumbled more than 40% premarket, Petrobras U.S. shares slid more than 20%, and MercadoLibre fell 10%. That premarket move is cited as the attention story, not verified here — the price file ends October 2.
The price file underneath that headline is a falling year, not a falling week. MELI closed 2025 at $2,014.26, fell 14.2% in Q1 to $1,729.02 by March 31, 2026, then slipped a further 1.8% in Q2 to $1,697.39 by June 30, and closed the price file on October 2 at $1,696.56 — 15.8% below its 2025 year-end close. The daily refresh (cross-source) puts the October 23 close at $1,810.15 — 6.6% above June 30. What did the tracked holders, the broad market, insiders, one member of Congress, and the control register do in the quarter the price slipped?
The Tape
| Lens | As of | What the filings show | Direction vs prior period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Superinvestors (13F) | Jun 30, 2026 | 17 of 147 tracked managers hold; 3,530,647 shares ($5,998.19M reported). Eagle Capital is 39.8%. | Verified continuing cohort shares +11.8%; no new holders; 2 exits in the Q1 register; both registers reconcile, residual 0 |
| All institutions (13F) | Jun 30, 2026 | 1,442 filers hold 38,237,989 shares ($68.62B reported). | Shares +1.74%; filers +9; reported value +2.93% |
| Insiders (Form 4) | Oct 2, 2026 | 0 buys, 0 sells in 90 days (P/S codes); 4 buys and 3 sells in the year window. | 90-day agg window is empty, but the parsed corpus ends Jun 15, 2026 — the window is unobserved beyond that date, not proven empty |
| Congress | Oct 3, 2026 | 1 member (Cisneros, Gilbert, D): 1 buy, 1 sell, last buy Jun 10, 2026. Senate: none. | One member traded in both directions; no Senate row |
| 13D/G | Jun 18, 2026 | 5 parsed filings; Baillie Gifford max 7.5%; Galperin group 13D/A at 6.7% is the latest. | Agg file misses the 13D/A — parsed register is primary |
| Short interest | Sep 15, 2026 | 825,938 shares short, 2.01 days to cover, 1.63% of shares outstanding. | 55.3% below the Feb 2022 peak; −17.6% vs Jun 30; −3.4% year over year |
Chart: MELI through six filing lenses — who is actually there?
Superinvestors. The tracked register for MELI is broad but top-heavy. Seventeen of 147 tracked managers hold 3,530,647 shares — $5,998,187,182 reported — and the largest holder alone is 39.8% of it. Eagle Capital Management holds 1,406,953 shares (7.29% of its portfolio), INCREASED +79.0% (Q1 pair 785,937). Generation Investment Management holds 472,716 shares (7.80%), INCREASED +3.3% (Q1 457,626). Sands Capital Management holds 378,208 shares (2.38%), DECREASED −20.5% (Q1 475,455). Henry Ellenbogen - Durable Capital Partners holds 308,663 shares (5.10%), DECREASED −12.0% (Q1 350,845). D1 Capital Partners holds 277,475 shares (1.35%), DECREASED −25.7% (Q1 373,675). Flossbach von Storch holds 187,847 shares (1.44%), INCREASED +0.4% (Q1 187,134). Harding Loevner holds 184,269 shares (2.99%), DECREASED −1.2% (Q1 186,499). Chase Coleman - Tiger Global Management holds 153,126 shares (1.08%), INCREASED +13.4% (Q1 135,006). The remaining nine holders — Sustainable Growth Advisers (33,508, −36.2%), Thornburg (29,450, −5.1%), Samlyn Capital (29,407, −56.0%), Polen Capital (25,926, −24.7%), Markel Group (24,000, +340.4%), Weitz (9,200, +15.0%), Skye Global (6,200, +126.3%), Dodge & Cox (1,987, unchanged), and Miller Value (1,712, −22.7%) — together hold less than Sands alone. Seven increased, nine decreased, one stood still. All seventeen labels recompute exactly.
The verified continuing cohort grew in the quarter the price slipped: the 17 holders held 3,157,392 shares in Q1, so the cohort added 373,255 shares, or 11.8%, in Q2. That growth is dominated by one name: Eagle added 621,016 shares — more than the cohort's net growth — against cuts led by Sands, D1, Durable and Samlyn. Both registers reconcile exactly with residual 0: the Q1 register is the cohort's Q1 pairs plus two exited holders (Lee Ainslie - Maverick Capital, 26,894 shares; Winslow Capital Management, 141 shares) plus Sarasin & Partners' Q1 position of 70,250 shares, and the Q2 register is the June cohort plus Sarasin's Q2 position of 71,555 shares. One shared-CIK note: Polen, D1 and Eagle all file under filer CIK 1172661, but each was paired by its own Q2 accession (matched on total value) plus the Q1 candidate that recomputes its label, so no Q1 row is counted twice. The cohort's implied price, $1,698.89, sits 0.09% above the June 30 close of $1,697.39. The cohort is 9.2% of the full market's reported MELI shares and 7.0% of the 50,696,802 shares outstanding as of August 5, 2026.
There is also a September early filer to keep separate from the June cohort. Sarasin & Partners filed a September 30, 2026 position of 71,758 shares ($124,035,856, 1.39% of its portfolio), INCREASED +0.3% — 203 shares above its Q2 register position of 71,555. That row is a Q3 position, not a Q2 position, and it is never added to the June cohort.
All institutions. The broad market moved the same way as the tracked cohort, only more gently. Filers rose by 9 to 1,442, of which 1,437 are long, while reported shares rose 1.74% (+654,174 to 38,237,989) and reported value rose 2.93% to $68.62 billion — value and shares rising together because the implied price barely moved. 1,192 filers entered and 1,183 exited, net +9. Excluding the tracked cohort, other institutions hold 34,707,342 shares — the broad market's Q2 share growth is 1.75 times the cohort's, so the cohort is a concentrated version of the broad move, not a contrarian one. With a single CUSIP, the by-CUSIP fixture row matches the by-ticker row exactly.
Insiders. This lens is quiet in the recent window — and the quiet needs a qualifier before it is quoted. In the 90 days to October 2, 2026, the aggregate file shows zero open-market buys and zero open-market sells: 0 filings, 0 buy transactions, 0 sell transactions. In the year window there are 13 filings with 4 buys (781.64 shares, $1,293,635.18) and 3 sells (1,136 shares, $2,308,788.43). The buys are Melamud Marcelo (officer, SVP - Chief Accounting Officer), 57 shares at $1,755.77 on February 27, 2026 and 124.64 shares at $1,604.62 on June 11, 2026 — officer buy value $300,078.73 — and Aguzin Alejandro Nicolas, 95 shares at $1,655.01 and 505 shares at $1,656.10, both on May 22, 2026. The sells are Calemzuk Emiliano (45 shares at $2,027.37 on December 11, 2025), Dubugras Henrique Vasoncelos (845 shares at $2,028.14 on December 12, 2025), and Tolda Stelleo (246 shares at $2,047.88 on December 9, 2025). Two distinct buyers, three distinct sellers, no officer sells. A scan of all 21 parsed files for issuer CIK 1099590 matches the aggregate exactly on every P/S count, share and value. The qualifier: the parsed corpus covers filing dates August 8, 2025 to June 15, 2026 only, and the latest P/S transaction date is June 11, 2026. The 90-day zero therefore describes the files, not a verified absence of insider filings in July through October 2026 — that window is unobserved, not proven empty, and no "insiders went silent" conclusion is drawn from it.
Congress. One member, both directions, nothing from the Senate. The combined file shows 1 member with 1 buy and 1 sell, last buy June 10, 2026, party D. The member file names that member: Cisneros, Gilbert (D), with disclosure amounts of $1,001–$15,000 and $15,001–$50,000 — ranges as filed, so no single dollar amount is claimed. The Senate file holds no MELI row through October 1, 2026. Member-disclosure aggregates, not Form 4 transactions, never added to insider totals.
13D/G. The control register holds this article's file disagreement. The parsed register holds 5 filings: 1 Schedule 13D/A, 3 Schedule 13G/A amendments, and 1 Schedule 13G. The largest reported percentage is 7.5% for Baillie Gifford & Co (3,784,477 shares, event March 31, 2025, filed April 30, 2025, SC 13G/A amendment 17). Baillie Gifford stepped down to 6.4% (3,233,259 shares, event March 31, 2026, filed May 6, 2026, amendment 18). Capital Research Global Investors filed a 13G at 5.4% (2,717,172 shares, event March 31, 2026, filed May 14, 2026) and an earlier 13G/A at 4.4% (2,236,008 shares, event September 30, 2024, filed February 7, 2025). The latest filing is a Galperin group SC 13D/A dated June 18, 2026 (event June 17, 2026, amendment 2), reporting 3,400,136 shares at 6.7% under three reporter names — Galperin Trust /SD, Meliga No. 1 Corp., and Corpag Trust South Dakota Inc. — plus two zero-share rows. Those three rows are not summed: related entities reporting one overlapping position, not three stakes. The disclosure: the aggregate file reports only 4 filings, 2 reporters, max 7.5%, latest May 14, 2026, with zero D filings — it misses the June 18 13D/A entirely. This article uses the parsed register and says so. One parsed-file typo is flagged: the Galperin filing's CUSIP field reads "587733R102" (an extra digit) while its issuer CIK, name and class match MELI.
Short interest. The bear trade is small and shrinking. FINRA short interest stood at 825,938 shares at September 15, 2026, with 2.01 days to cover and 1.63% of shares outstanding. That latest settlement is 55.3% below the series peak of 1,848,047 (February 28, 2022), 17.6% below June 30 (1,001,769), 3.4% below the year-ago figure (855,124 at September 15, 2025), and 0.06% below the prior settlement (826,417 at August 31). The last six settlements — 1,001,769, 966,840, 809,306, 885,727, 826,417, 825,938 — drift down with one mid-August uptick. Short interest here is a footnote, not a squeeze setup.
The Gap
The attention story and the filing tape disagree about timing, and the tracked register hides its concentration behind a broad headline count. The October 26 selloff is a political-news event after the tape's June 30 snapshot: nothing in the June filings can confirm or refute a move driven by a Sunday election result, and the September 15 short-interest print predates the election too, so the shrinking short position is the pre-election baseline. Within the quarter the tape does cover, the tracked cohort added 11.8% and the broad market added 1.74% in shares while the price slipped 1.8% — accumulation into a soft price, not flight from it — but 39.8% of the tracked story is Eagle alone, and Eagle's +79.0% add exceeds the cohort's entire net growth, while nine holders cut. Insiders add a small, two-sided year (buys $1.29 million, sells $2.31 million) and an unobserved recent window that must not be quoted as silence. Congress adds one member trading both ways. The control register adds the thread the aggregate file hides: a June 18 activist-form amendment it never shows.
What Would Change the Picture
Nothing above is a recommendation. It is a record. What would change it:
- Q3 13F season (filings due by November 16, 2026). Watch whether Eagle adds again from 1,406,953 shares or trims after +79.0% in Q2, whether any new holder appears, whether Sands and D1 keep cutting, and whether Sarasin grows from 71,555.
- A first parsed Form 4 filing dated after June 15, 2026 would end the corpus gap — and a first open-market insider transaction after June 11, 2026 would replace an unobserved 90-day window with an observed one.
- A second member of Congress trading MELI, or a first Senate transaction, would change a lens that currently holds one House member and no senator.
- A new Schedule 13D/A filing, a new reporter above 7.5%, or Baillie Gifford moving again from 6.4% would change a control register whose largest percentages belong to Baillie Gifford and are stepping down.
- Short-interest direction. A fall below the September 15 level of 825,938 — or a rise back toward the June 30 level of 1,001,769 — in a post-election settlement would each tell a different story about a bear position that drifted down all summer.
As-of & Limits
| Lens | As of | Limit or note |
|---|---|---|
| Superinvestors (13F) | Jun 30, 2026 | 13F figures are as of June 30, 2026, the quarter-end. Funds have up to 45 days after quarter-end to file, so this is the most recent complete picture — and it is always a lagging one. Single CUSIP 58733R102, long rows only; no option rows. All continuing labels recompute exactly under the accession-pairing method. Both registers reconcile exactly with residual 0; two exits (Maverick 26,894 Q1 shares; Winslow 141 Q1 shares), no new June holders. Sarasin's 71,758-share row is a September 30 position and is never added to the June cohort. |
| All institutions (13F) | Jun 30, 2026 | Reported value includes option rows by definition; implied price is not a price check. By-ticker and by-CUSIP rows match exactly (single CUSIP). |
| Insiders (Form 4) | Oct 2, 2026 | This lens counts only P and S codes. In 90 days (agg): 0 filings, 0 buys, 0 sells; in the year window: 13 filings, 4 buys (781.64 shares, $1,293,635.18) and 3 sells (1,136 shares, $2,308,788.43); in the parsed corpus: 21 filings, same P/S totals. The parsed corpus covers filing dates August 8, 2025 to June 15, 2026 only — the 90-day window is unobserved beyond June 15, not proven empty. |
| Congress | Oct 3, 2026 | One member (Cisneros, Gilbert, D): 1 buy, 1 sell, last buy June 10, 2026; Senate: no row. Reported as member-disclosure aggregates, not Form 4 insider transactions, and never added to insider totals. Amounts are disclosure ranges as filed. |
| 13D/G | Jun 18, 2026 | Parsed register (5 filings) is primary. The aggregate file reports 4 filings, max 7.5%, latest May 14, 2026, and misses the June 18, 2026 SC 13D/A — agg-vs-parsed does NOT match, and that mismatch is disclosed. Filing percentages are as reported; denominators differ by filing date and are not recomputed. Reporter rows within one filing are not summed. The Galperin filing's parsed CUSIP field reads '587733R102' (extra digit) and is flagged. |
| Short interest | Sep 15, 2026 | Shares-outstanding count is as of August 5, 2026. One early-series break is not claimed; the series is reported as settlements, not as a signal. |
| Prices | Oct 23, 2026 (fresh close) | Price file ends Oct 2, 2026; the Oct 23 close ($1,810.15) is cross-source (chart_stats) and labelled as such. The October 26 premarket slide (10%) is a WSJ-reported figure cited as the attention story, not a price-file figure. |
| Fundamentals | FY2025 | Recorded market capitalisation uses the record's own price_close ($1,857.99 as of Oct 6, 2026), not the Oct 2 close, and is quoted only as the record's figure. Shares outstanding are a point-in-time count as of August 5, 2026. |
| Hype source | Oct 26, 2026 (WSJ Stocks to Watch) | WSJ "Stocks to Watch" live coverage for October 26, 2026 (Brazil election result; XP more than 40% premarket, Petrobras more than 20%, MercadoLibre 10%) — cited with link as the attention story, not as figures this article verifies. Price moves are measured from the price file. |
Methodology & disclaimer: 13F holdings are long shares unless stated; reported values include option rows for the all-institutions lens by definition. Short interest is FINRA twice-monthly settlements. Trading costs and taxes are not reflected in any figure. Past patterns are not a promise of future results. For education only — not investment advice.
This article describes filings and market data for education. It is not investment advice. Data: SEC EDGAR 13F (as of June 30, 2026, filed within 45 days), Form 4 corpus checked through October 2, 2026 (21 parsed files for issuer CIK 1099590, filing dates August 8, 2025 to June 15, 2026), House/Senate disclosures through October 3, 2026, SC 13D/G parsed register through June 18, 2026, FINRA short interest at September 15, 2026 settlement. 13F covers long positions of $100M+ managers only and is always a lagging picture. Trading costs and taxes are not reflected.
Related research: Seven of 147: GQG Is 93.7% of the Tracked Petrobras Stake — and It Added While the Price Fell 22.1% in Q2 · Five of 147: Dodge & Cox Is 73.8% of the Tracked Norfolk Southern Stake — and the Cohort Cut 48.9% in Q2 · Track the tape on MELI's stock page and the 13F filing season hub.
Revision history: v1.0 — October 26, 2026. Initial publication. Signals and lens aggregates: meli_lens_data.csv. Short-interest series: meli_short_interest_series.csv.