Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by Blair William & Co. IL

Blair William & Co. IL decreased its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 955,188 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 21,409 shares during the quarter. Mastercard makes up approximately 1.5% of Blair William & Co. IL’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $545,298,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MA. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 20.0% in the 2nd quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 108 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,939 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,678,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc. lifted its stake in Mastercard by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 590 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Thomasville National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 479 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Finally, Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC now owns 695 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $387,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MA shares. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $679.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $561.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $605.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $656.04.

Mastercard Price Performance

Mastercard stock opened at $501.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $499.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $522.78. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $464.52 and a 12 month high of $601.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $442.67 billion, a PE ratio of 28.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.74.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.73 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 20.14%.

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.