Cerity Partners LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Cerity Partners LLC cut its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 392,203 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 3,433 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $223,086,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MA. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in Mastercard by 1.2% during the third quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 43,300 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $24,629,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. NDVR Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 3rd quarter valued at about $216,000. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,854 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,899,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the period. Tribridge Partners Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $322,000. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 14.4% in the third quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 3,106 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,767,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $669.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $713.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Mastercard from $638.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 14th. Five research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $657.48.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE:MA opened at $580.20 on Wednesday. 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 50-day moving average of $555.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $566.28. The stock has a market cap of $521.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.10, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.86. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $465.59 and a 1-year high of $601.77.

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

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 19.44%.

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.