Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Purchased by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 49,384 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,867 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $27,234,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Mastercard by 1.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,964,305 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $18,984,867,000 after buying an additional 486,283 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,123,041 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,559,779,000 after purchasing an additional 480,725 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Mastercard by 1.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,225,359 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,111,216,000 after purchasing an additional 42,871 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Mastercard by 17.8% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,666,018 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,831,763,000 after purchasing an additional 554,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in Mastercard by 5.8% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 3,626,416 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,862,527,000 after purchasing an additional 199,424 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price objective on Mastercard from $710.00 to $688.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Loop Capital upped their target price on Mastercard from $631.00 to $647.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Wolfe Research increased their target price on Mastercard from $680.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $701.00 price target (up from $674.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $597.00 to $710.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $713.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 371 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.01, for a total transaction of $217,038.71. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,607 shares in the company, valued at $5,035,181.07. This trade represents a 4.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ling Hai sold 4,318 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $642.43, for a total transaction of $2,774,012.74. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 35,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,966,872.50. The trade was a 10.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 25,403 shares of company stock worth $15,428,736 in the last ninety days. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE MA opened at $660.63 on Thursday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $464.52 and a 52 week high of $681.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $597.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $541.07. The firm has a market cap of $575.52 billion, a PE ratio of 34.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.78.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $0.14. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.73% and a return on equity of 260.86%. The firm had revenue of $9.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.66 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.38 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 20.00 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 18.20%.

Mastercard News Summary

Investors following MA have been watching these news items:

• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup increased its target to $800 from $675 and maintained a “buy” rating, adding to the recent bullish analyst view. Read more about Citigroup’s price target
• Positive Sentiment: Other partnerships broaden Mastercard’s business-banking reach, including a BMO commercial card in Canada and Citizens’ treasury-management collaboration using Mastercard technology. Read about Mastercard’s business-banking partnerships
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach highlighted cybersecurity threats to financial infrastructure. The comments underscore an ongoing operational risk but did not describe a specific incident or financial impact. Watch the CEO’s cybersecurity comments

Mastercard Company Profile

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses and governments. Its network supports electronic payments, including transactions made with Mastercard-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards, as well as digital payment methods. The company provides technology for authorizing, clearing and settling transactions. It also offers services related to cybersecurity, identity verification, data analytics, fraud prevention and payment consulting.