Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by Jackson Square Partners LLC

Jackson Square Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 25.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,351 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 3,484 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises 2.4% of Jackson Square Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Jackson Square Partners LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $5,888,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MA. Curio Wealth LLC lifted its position in Mastercard by 22,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Curio Wealth LLC now owns 225 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 153.6% in the third quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 2,856 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,625,000 after acquiring an additional 1,730 shares during the last quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.5% during the third quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 309,192 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $175,872,000 after acquiring an additional 4,700 shares in the last quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. boosted its position in Mastercard by 88.9% during the third quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. now owns 15,335 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $8,723,000 after purchasing an additional 7,215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Mastercard by 3,694.7% in the third quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 9,297 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,288,000 after purchasing an additional 9,052 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MA shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $668.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Mastercard from $668.00 to $671.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $665.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $669.18.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $549.07 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $555.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $564.31. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $465.59 and a twelve month high of $601.77. The company has a market cap of $493.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.24, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued 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 company had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.82 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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 is 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.