2,811 Shares in Mastercard Incorporated $MA Bought by Financial Consulate Inc.

Financial Consulate Inc. purchased a new stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 2,811 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,599,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at approximately $11,421,213,000. 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. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 55,868.1% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,421,148 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,541,880,000 after purchasing an additional 13,397,168 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,725,317,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $570.96 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $555.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $565.60. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $465.59 and a one year high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $512.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.51, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.86.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.31 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 202.03% and a net margin of 45.28%.The business’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.44%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 14th. Macquarie upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res raised Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on Mastercard from $638.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $657.48.

Mastercard Company Profile

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. The company facilitates electronic payments and transaction processing for credit, debit and prepaid card products carrying the Mastercard brand, while also providing a range of payment-related services to issuers, acquirers and merchants. Its technology and network enable authorization, clearing and settlement of payments and support a broad set of use cases including point-of-sale, e-commerce and mobile payments.

Beyond core transaction processing, Mastercard offers a suite of value-added services such as fraud and risk management, identity and authentication tools, tokenization and digital wallet support, cross-border and commercial payment solutions, and data analytics and consulting services for merchants and financial partners.