Black Diamond Financial LLC Has $2.08 Million Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Black Diamond Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 208.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,649 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,467 shares during the period. Black Diamond Financial LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,076,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 13,397,168 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter valued at about $6,725,317,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 25.6% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,372,404 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,580,909,000 after buying an additional 1,299,977 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 worth $44,098,695,000 after buying an additional 931,132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $11,062,509,000 after acquiring an additional 542,841 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $552.82 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $555.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $564.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.03. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $465.59 and a 52-week high of $601.77. The stock has a market cap of $496.43 billion, a PE ratio of 33.46, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.83.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.52. The firm had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.80 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.65% and a return on equity of 203.92%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.82 EPS. As a group, equities 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This is an increase from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Daiwa Capital Markets set a $610.00 price objective on Mastercard and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Compass Point upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $620.00 to $735.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $685.00 to $655.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $610.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $669.18.

Mastercard 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.