American Century Companies Inc. Purchases 57,798 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,213,964 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 57,798 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises 1.5% of American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.58% of Mastercard worth $2,965,758,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position 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 worth $7,541,880,000 after buying an additional 13,397,168 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter valued at $6,725,317,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Mastercard by 25.6% during the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 1,299,977 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,431,340 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,181,341,000 after purchasing an additional 955,533 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 542,841 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.2%

Mastercard stock opened at $515.92 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $460.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $545.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $559.56.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.82 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on MA. Macquarie Infrastructure upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. Compass Point upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $620.00 to $735.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $739.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Mastercard from $665.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $669.27.

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.