Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Has $2.05 Million Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 25.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,798 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 961 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,046,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MA. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 43,445.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,936,684 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,252,525,000 after acquiring an additional 2,929,940 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 3,339.9% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 815,506 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $322,867,000 after buying an additional 791,799 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 48.4% in the 3rd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 1,746,342 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $691,394,000 after buying an additional 569,534 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,966,348 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,153,957,000 after buying an additional 515,481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,839,088 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $728,113,000 after buying an additional 428,627 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MA. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Mastercard from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Mastercard from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Mastercard from $525.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Mastercard from $433.00 to $482.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on Mastercard from $452.00 to $504.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.23.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of MA traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $462.42. 1,963,273 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,212,406. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $357.85 and a 52 week high of $490.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $431.39 billion, a PE ratio of 39.09, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $471.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $436.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.08 by $0.10. Mastercard had a return on equity of 191.22% and a net margin of 44.60%. The company had revenue of $6.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.46 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.65 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 9th will be issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 8th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 22.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, insider Craig Vosburg sold 13,542 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.06, for a total value of $6,230,132.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 46,491 shares in the company, valued at $21,388,649.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Craig Vosburg sold 13,542 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.06, for a total transaction of $6,230,132.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 46,491 shares in the company, valued at $21,388,649.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.25, for a total value of $97,450.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 97,543,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,527,976,823. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 366,630 shares of company stock worth $168,746,490. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. The company offers integrated products and value-added services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, digital partners, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid programs services; and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid payment products and solutions.