Mastercard Incorporated $MA is Torque Asset Management LLC’s 3rd Largest Position

Torque Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 56,038 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,852 shares during the period. Mastercard accounts for approximately 11.1% of Torque Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Torque Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $31,991,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Mastercard by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,897,854 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,612,087,000 after buying an additional 466,514 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Mastercard by 2.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,807,283,000 after buying an additional 997,536 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,686,605 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,773,153,000 after acquiring an additional 349,369 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,964,658 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,256,368,000 after acquiring an additional 759,584 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,046,550 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,160,657,000 after acquiring an additional 123,528 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA opened at $490.47 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $433.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $464.52 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The company’s fifty day moving average is $499.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $523.09.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.73 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MA. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Mastercard from $735.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore restated a “negative” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $561.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $656.04.

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.