Caprock Group LLC Invests $17.70 Million in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 29,737 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $17,702,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Mastercard by 1.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,475,807 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $44,098,695,000 after purchasing an additional 931,132 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted 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 worth $11,062,509,000 after purchasing an additional 542,841 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $7,541,880,000 after buying an additional 13,397,168 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at $6,725,317,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Mastercard by 25.6% during 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 period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Macquarie Infrastructure boosted their target price on Mastercard from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $685.00 price objective on Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on Mastercard from $707.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $656.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $669.27.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.9%

NYSE:MA opened at $540.36 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $485.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.83. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $465.59 and a twelve month high of $601.77. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $555.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $563.93. 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 posted 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. The company had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.80 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.65% and a return on equity of 203.92%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.82 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 21.07%.

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.