Voya Investment Management LLC Acquires 33,306 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,063,067 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,306 shares during the period. Mastercard comprises approximately 0.6% of Voya Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $604,683,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,594,000 after purchasing an additional 2,028 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 13.3% during the first quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 3,962 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,172,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter valued at $2,367,000. Tradition Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 3.4% during the first quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,225 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $671,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Mastercard by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,096,979 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,015,557,000 after buying an additional 907,184 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MA has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 14th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Mastercard from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Mastercard from $645.00 to $654.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $657.48.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE MA opened at $565.88 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $508.16 billion, a PE ratio of 36.18, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.87. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $553.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $566.13. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $465.59 and a 12 month high of $601.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40.

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

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.25%.

Mastercard Company Profile

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.