Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by WestEnd Advisors LLC

WestEnd Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 76,967 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,151 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises approximately 1.0% of WestEnd Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. WestEnd Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $43,782,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 73.2% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 698 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the period. Curio Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 22,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Curio Wealth LLC now owns 225 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the period. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. now owns 15,335 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $8,723,000 after purchasing an additional 7,215 shares during the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Mastercard by 3,694.7% during the 3rd quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 9,297 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,288,000 after purchasing an additional 9,052 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Price Performance

NYSE MA opened at $562.93 on Monday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $465.59 and a 12 month high of $601.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $505.51 billion, a PE ratio of 35.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $555.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $565.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.31 by $0.07. Mastercard had a return on equity of 202.03% and a net margin of 45.28%.The firm had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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 paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. This is an increase from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Mastercard from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Citigroup raised shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley set a $665.00 target price on shares of Mastercard and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $657.48.

About Mastercard

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.