Trajan Wealth LLC Raises Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Trajan Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 119,683 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,367 shares during the quarter. Mastercard accounts for 2.9% of Trajan Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Trajan Wealth LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $68,077,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 55,868.1% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,421,148 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,541,880,000 after purchasing an additional 13,397,168 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter valued at about $6,725,317,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Mastercard by 25.6% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,372,404 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,580,909,000 after buying an additional 1,299,977 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Mastercard by 1.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,431,340 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $45,181,341,000 after acquiring an additional 955,533 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,760,552 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,062,509,000 after acquiring an additional 542,841 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on MA shares. Compass Point raised Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $620.00 to $735.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $739.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $707.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Macquarie Infrastructure upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $669.27.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $525.94 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $469.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $551.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $561.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $465.59 and a 1-year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.52. The company had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.80 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.65% and a return on equity of 203.92%. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.82 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 21.07%.

Mastercard Company 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.