5,867 Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Purchased by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 13.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 49,384 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,867 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $27,234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MA. Atlatl Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 2.8% during the third quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC now owns 586 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the period. Foster Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.9% during the third quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 2,122 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,170,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Shakespeare Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 3.8% during the third quarter. Shakespeare Wealth Management LLC now owns 492 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $271,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 513 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $283,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Athena Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Athena Wealth Management LLC now owns 514 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on MA. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $696.00 to $742.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Evercore increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $620.00 in a research report on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $725.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, November 5th. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on Mastercard from $680.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Mastercard from $660.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $713.21.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $660.63 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $575.52 billion, a PE ratio of 34.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $597.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $541.07. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $464.52 and a 1 year high of $681.99.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $9.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.66 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.73% and a return on equity of 260.86%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.38 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 20.00 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 9th. Investors of record on Friday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, CFO Ling Hai sold 4,317 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $641.00, for a total transaction of $2,767,197.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 35,750 shares in the company, valued at $22,915,750. This represents a 10.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $590.21, for a total transaction of $218,377.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,861,559.77. This represents a 4.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 25,403 shares of company stock worth $15,428,736 in the last ninety days. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Top Mastercard Stories

These are some of the MA stories that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is partnering with Sage and Adyen on small-business financial services. Mastercard will provide the card network for Sage business debit cards, while Adyen supplies banking infrastructure for the initial French rollout. Read about the Sage, Adyen and Mastercard partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Other partnerships broaden Mastercard’s business-banking reach, including a BMO commercial card in Canada and Citizens’ treasury-management collaboration using Mastercard technology. Read about Mastercard’s business-banking partnerships
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach highlighted cybersecurity threats to financial infrastructure. The comments underscore an ongoing operational risk but did not describe a specific incident or financial impact. Watch the CEO’s cybersecurity comments

Mastercard Profile

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses and governments. Its network supports electronic payments, including transactions made with Mastercard-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards, as well as digital payment methods. The company provides technology for authorizing, clearing and settling transactions. It also offers services related to cybersecurity, identity verification, data analytics, fraud prevention and payment consulting.