Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases 94,781 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 6.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,552,405 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 94,781 shares during the period. Mastercard accounts for approximately 0.7% of Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $872,358,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MA. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,421,213,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter valued at about $4,238,764,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 38.6% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,413,936,000 after purchasing an additional 3,765,378 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 3,493.6% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 934,110 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $524,914,000 after buying an additional 908,116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Mastercard by 4.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,096,979 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,015,557,000 after buying an additional 907,184 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Macquarie upped their price target 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Mastercard in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $650.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley set a $665.00 target price on Mastercard and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 18th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.26.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total value of $10,202,433.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,459,294. This represents a 35.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Price Performance

Mastercard stock opened at $551.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The stock has a market cap of $499.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $572.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $568.95. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $465.59 and a 1 year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.31 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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