Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Bought by Whalen Wealth Management Inc.

Whalen Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 262.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,060 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,216 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up 0.9% of Whalen Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Whalen Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,747,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,807,283,000 after purchasing an additional 997,536 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Mastercard by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,431,340 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,181,341,000 after purchasing an additional 955,533 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Mastercard by 792.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 865,523 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $494,110,000 after purchasing an additional 768,514 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Mastercard by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,347,834 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,885,944,000 after purchasing an additional 629,941 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Mastercard during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $245,980,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.0%

NYSE:MA opened at $493.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $516.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $544.97. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $465.59 and a 1-year high of $601.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $440.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.88, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.83.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 203.92% and a net margin of 45.65%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.82 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $665.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Dbs Bank upgraded Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 15th. Finally, Macquarie Infrastructure increased their price objective on Mastercard from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $664.40.

Mastercard Company 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.