Cerity Partners LLC Increases Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 402,032 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,829 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $229,508,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Mastercard by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,897,854 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,612,087,000 after purchasing an additional 466,514 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Mastercard by 2.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $20,807,283,000 after purchasing an additional 997,536 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,686,605 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,773,153,000 after purchasing an additional 349,369 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in Mastercard by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,964,658 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,256,368,000 after purchasing an additional 759,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,705,708,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $609.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $656.04.

Mastercard Price Performance

Mastercard stock opened at $484.94 on Tuesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $464.52 and a 52-week high of $601.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $499.50 and a 200-day moving average of $524.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $428.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.06, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.73 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 EPS for the current year.

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.