Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. trimmed its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 89.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 97,009 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 837,101 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $55,180,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,475,807 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $44,098,695,000 after purchasing an additional 931,132 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter valued at about $11,421,213,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% during 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 raised its holdings in Mastercard by 2.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,760,552 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,062,509,000 after purchasing an additional 542,841 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Mastercard by 55,868.1% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,421,148 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,541,880,000 after purchasing an additional 13,397,168 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MA. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Mastercard from $645.00 to $654.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Evercore ISI set a $610.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $713.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $665.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $654.81.

Mastercard Price Performance

Mastercard stock opened at $564.92 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $507.30 billion, a PE ratio of 36.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.87. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $553.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $566.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.89 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 19.44%.

Mastercard Profile

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.