ABC Arbitrage SA Raises Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

ABC Arbitrage SA raised its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 80.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,717 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,450 shares during the quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $4,390,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. LGT Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Robbins Farley increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 54 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 45.2% during the 2nd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 61 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Mastercard from $665.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Daiwa Securities Group set a $610.00 target price on Mastercard and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Macquarie Infrastructure lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $668.00 to $671.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $669.27.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $540.36 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $555.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $563.93. The stock has a market cap of $485.24 billion, a PE ratio of 32.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 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 Incorporated has a 12 month low of $465.59 and a 12 month high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.82 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 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.