State of Wisconsin Investment Board Sells 25,552 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

State of Wisconsin Investment Board lowered its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 447,685 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 25,552 shares during the period. Mastercard comprises about 0.6% of State of Wisconsin Investment Board’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. State of Wisconsin Investment Board’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $255,574,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,897,854 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,612,087,000 after buying an additional 466,514 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake 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 valued at $20,807,283,000 after buying an additional 997,536 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,686,605 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,773,153,000 after buying an additional 349,369 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,964,658 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,256,368,000 after buying an additional 759,584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,046,550 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $9,160,657,000 after buying an additional 123,528 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price target on the stock. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Evercore reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $656.04.

Mastercard Trading Up 2.1%

NYSE:MA opened at $501.00 on Wednesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $464.52 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $499.39 and a 200 day moving average of $522.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $442.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.99, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.74.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.73 earnings per share. Mastercard’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.14%.

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.