National Pension Service Decreases Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

National Pension Service reduced its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,519,790 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 57,122 shares during the quarter. Mastercard accounts for approximately 0.7% of National Pension Service’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. National Pension Service’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $854,031,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairbanks Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 3.3% in the second quarter. Fairbanks Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,231 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $6,311,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the period. Advyzon Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 89.0% in the second quarter. Advyzon Investment Management LLC now owns 2,130 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,197,000 after buying an additional 1,003 shares during the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in Mastercard by 3.2% in the second quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,798 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,010,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. VeraBank N.A. increased its holdings in Mastercard by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 3,774 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,121,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Pembroke Management LTD purchased a new position in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $361,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $586.89, for a total value of $10,456,032.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at $18,330,922.26. This represents a 36.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.9%

MA opened at $557.93 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $570.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $569.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $504.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.62, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.92. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.31 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.89 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 9th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 18th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Macquarie upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $645.00 to $654.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $665.00 price objective on Mastercard and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.26.

Mastercard Company Profile

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. The company offers integrated products and value-added services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, digital partners, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid programs services; and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid payment products and solutions.