AQR Capital Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 31.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 653,263 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 156,096 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Mastercard worth $363,103,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,475,807 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $44,098,695,000 after buying an additional 931,132 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the second quarter worth about $11,421,213,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Mastercard by 4.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,096,979 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,015,557,000 after acquiring an additional 907,184 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,760,552 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,062,509,000 after acquiring an additional 542,841 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Mastercard by 38.6% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,413,936,000 after purchasing an additional 3,765,378 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA opened at $571.40 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $513.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $554.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $566.44. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $465.59 and a 52-week high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.31 by $0.07. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.28% and a return on equity of 202.03%. The company had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.89 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 22.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $713.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Macquarie boosted their price target on Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Mastercard from $638.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $645.00 to $654.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $654.81.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. The company offers integrated products and value-added services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, digital partners, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid programs services; and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid payment products and solutions.