Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. Increases Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. increased its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 88.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,335 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,215 shares during the quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $8,723,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, IMG Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MA. Compass Point set a $620.00 price target on shares of Mastercard and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen cut Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $645.00 to $654.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Mastercard from $669.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $657.48.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA opened at $562.93 on Friday. 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 has a 50 day moving average price of $555.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $565.56. The company has a market capitalization of $505.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.86. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $465.59 and a 52-week high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.31 by $0.07. Mastercard had a return on equity of 202.03% and a net margin of 45.28%.The firm had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.89 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. This is an increase from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 22.25%.

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.