Mastercard Incorporated $MA is Mirova US LLC’s 3rd Largest Position

Mirova US LLC reduced its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,028,601 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 42,095 shares during the period. Mastercard accounts for 5.9% of Mirova US LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Mirova US LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $585,079,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MA. Macquarie increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res raised Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $638.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $610.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $657.48.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA stock opened at $577.89 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $555.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $565.42. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $518.95 billion, a PE ratio of 36.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.87.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.89 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current 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 issued a $0.87 dividend. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.44%.

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.