ProShare Advisors LLC Has $102.26 Million Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

ProShare Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 179,786 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 13,116 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $102,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MA. LGT Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Robbins Farley boosted its stake in Mastercard by 50.0% in the third quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 54 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 45.2% during the 2nd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 61 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard Stock Down 2.4%

NYSE:MA opened at $535.49 on Tuesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $465.59 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $555.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $564.13. The stock has a market cap of $480.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.41, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.52. Mastercard had a return on equity of 203.92% and a net margin of 45.65%.The company had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.82 earnings per share. Mastercard’s revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th were paid a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 9th. This is an increase from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 21.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on MA. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $707.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. HSBC raised Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. UBS Group increased their target price on Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Citigroup upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus 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.