Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 18.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 29,904 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 6,902 shares during the quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $17,010,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MA. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 55,868.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 13,397,168 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,725,317,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 25.6% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,475,807 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $44,098,695,000 after acquiring an additional 931,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE MA traded down $2.44 on Friday, reaching $549.45. 156,388 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,250,653. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $555.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $564.32. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $465.59 and a 12 month high of $601.77. The company has a market cap of $493.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.82 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. This is an increase from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Macquarie boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Redburn Partners set a $685.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $668.00 to $671.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on Mastercard from $707.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $669.18.

About Mastercard

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.