Bank of Montreal Can Lowers Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Bank of Montreal Can lessened its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,763,261 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 32,399 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned approximately 0.20% of Mastercard worth $1,002,961,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Mastercard by 4.2% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,806,887 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,303,015,000 after buying an additional 235,403 shares in the last quarter. Pinkerton Wealth LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pinkerton Wealth LLC now owns 5,810 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,305,000 after buying an additional 635 shares during the last quarter. Vestcor Inc lifted its stake in Mastercard by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 40,994 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $23,318,000 after acquiring an additional 1,417 shares in the last quarter. Sandhill Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Mastercard during the 3rd quarter valued at $245,000. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 163.4% during the 3rd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 18,700 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,637,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MA. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Macquarie Infrastructure boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $656.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Evercore set a $610.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $670.61.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $517.69 on Tuesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $465.59 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The company has a market capitalization of $461.68 billion, a PE ratio of 31.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $538.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $556.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its 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. The company had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.80 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 203.92% and a net margin of 45.65%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.82 EPS. Analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 21.07%.

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.