Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. Raises Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,562 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,400 shares during the period. Mastercard accounts for about 1.1% of Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $32,742,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. ORG Partners LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 73.2% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 698 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Curio Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 22,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Curio Wealth LLC now owns 225 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 88.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 7,215 shares in the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Mastercard by 3,694.7% during the third quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 9,297 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,288,000 after acquiring an additional 9,052 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $44,098,695,000 after acquiring an additional 931,132 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MA shares. Hsbc Global Res raised Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $665.00 target price on Mastercard and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 14th. Finally, Compass Point set a $620.00 price target on Mastercard and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Five investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $657.48.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $580.20 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $555.93 and a 200 day moving average of $566.28. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $465.59 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $521.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.86.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 202.03% and a net margin of 45.28%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.44%.

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.