Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stock Position Lowered by Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC

Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC decreased its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,514 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 125 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises approximately 1.1% of Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $7,594,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,421,213,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 55,868.1% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,421,148 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,541,880,000 after buying an additional 13,397,168 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Mastercard in the second quarter worth approximately $6,725,317,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter valued at $4,238,764,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 38.6% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,413,936,000 after acquiring an additional 3,765,378 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $665.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Macquarie upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $652.50.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA opened at $543.70 on Tuesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. The company has a market capitalization of $488.24 billion, a PE ratio of 36.66, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $558.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $567.93.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.31 by $0.07. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The business had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.89 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 9th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 19.44%.

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.