Simplify Asset Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,483 Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Simplify Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,483 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $844,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ORG Partners LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 73.2% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 698 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Curio Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 22,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Curio Wealth LLC now owns 225 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the period. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3,694.7% in the 3rd quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 9,297 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,288,000 after buying an additional 9,052 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,475,807 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $44,098,695,000 after buying an additional 931,132 shares during the period. Finally, Wheelhouse Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 4.4% during the second quarter. Wheelhouse Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,336 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $751,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.3%

Mastercard stock opened at $577.89 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 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $518.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $555.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $565.42.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.31 by $0.07. Mastercard had a return on equity of 202.03% and a net margin of 45.28%.The company had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on MA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $713.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 14th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $665.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $657.48.

Mastercard Profile

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.