CX Institutional Increases Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

CX Institutional raised its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 104.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,285 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,889 shares during the quarter. CX Institutional’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $12,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MA. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,421,213,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $7,541,880,000 after purchasing an additional 13,397,168 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter valued at approximately $6,725,317,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 25.6% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,372,404 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,580,909,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 931,132 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA opened at $580.20 on Wednesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40. The firm has a market cap of $521.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.10, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $555.93 and a 200-day moving average of $566.28.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) 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 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.89 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm 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 is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 14th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $665.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI set a $610.00 price target on Mastercard in a report on Friday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $665.00 price objective on Mastercard and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target 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.