Argos Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $978,000 in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Argos Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,713 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $978,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.6% during the 4th 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 raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% during the 3rd 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. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,347,834 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,885,944,000 after purchasing an additional 629,941 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Mastercard by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,806,887 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,303,015,000 after acquiring an additional 235,403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Mastercard by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,658,547 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,218,638,000 after acquiring an additional 339,137 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $500.18 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 company has a market capitalization of $441.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $505.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $533.04. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $480.50 and a 1 year high of $601.77.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.73 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on MA. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $685.00 to $655.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Loop Capital initiated coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $631.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $656.00.

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.