Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd

GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd cut its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 10.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 667,616 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 73,923 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up about 8.8% of GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $379,747,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nvest Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% in the second quarter. Nvest Financial LLC now owns 1,505 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $846,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Mastercard by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 339 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $191,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 13.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. grew its position in Mastercard by 20.0% in the 2nd quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 108 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 841 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $479,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MA. Macquarie Infrastructure lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Raymond James Financial decreased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $707.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Daiwa Securities Group set a $610.00 price target on shares of Mastercard and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $685.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $669.18.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE MA opened at $535.49 on Tuesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $465.59 and a 1-year high of $601.77. The company has a 50 day moving average of $555.10 and a 200-day moving average of $564.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The firm has a market cap of $480.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.41, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.83.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.52. Mastercard had a return on equity of 203.92% and a net margin of 45.65%.The business had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.82 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th were issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.07%.

About Mastercard

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.