Metropolis Capital Ltd Reduces Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Metropolis Capital Ltd lessened its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 318,519 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 24,487 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises approximately 5.7% of Metropolis Capital Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Metropolis Capital Ltd’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $181,177,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,475,807 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $44,098,695,000 after purchasing an additional 931,132 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard during the second quarter worth about $11,421,213,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% during the second 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 during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 55,868.1% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,421,148 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,541,880,000 after acquiring an additional 13,397,168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $6,725,317,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $665.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI set a $610.00 price objective on Mastercard in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $665.00 price objective on Mastercard and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Compass Point set a $620.00 target price on Mastercard and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $657.48.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $577.89 on Tuesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $555.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $565.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40. The stock has a market cap of $518.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.87.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 45.28% and a return on equity of 202.03%. The company’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. This is an increase from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.44%.

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.