Mastercard Incorporated $MA is Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc.’s 5th Largest Position

Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc. lessened its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 153,880 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 4,996 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up about 5.2% of Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $87,529,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,594,000 after purchasing an additional 2,028 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 8.5% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 2,548 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,432,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,559 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $876,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 6.5% in the second quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 2,984 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 53.1% in the 2nd quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MA. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $685.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Mastercard from $660.00 to $668.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on Mastercard from $707.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $665.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $669.27.

Mastercard Price Performance

NYSE:MA opened at $515.92 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $460.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.83. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $545.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $559.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 21.07%.

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.