Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by HM Payson & Co.

HM Payson & Co. cut its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 238,021 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 2,506 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises about 1.9% of HM Payson & Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $135,389,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Robbins Farley increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 50.0% in the third quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 54 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA opened at $579.61 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $555.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $565.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $520.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.87. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $465.59 and a 12-month high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.31 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.53 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 202.03% and a net margin of 45.28%.Mastercard’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 19.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen lowered Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $657.48.

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.