Rafferty Asset Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 275,343 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,295 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $156,618,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MA. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Mastercard by 55,868.1% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,421,148 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,541,880,000 after purchasing an additional 13,397,168 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,725,317,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 25.6% in 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 buying an additional 1,299,977 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 valued at $45,181,341,000 after acquiring an additional 955,533 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 542,841 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard Price Performance

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

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.52. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.65% and a return on equity of 203.92%. The company had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.80 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.82 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 21.07%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on MA shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $665.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Compass Point raised shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $620.00 to $735.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $668.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Macquarie Infrastructure boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $669.27.

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.