Mastercard Incorporated $MA Position Reduced by Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. trimmed its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 742,349 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 34,068 shares during the quarter. Mastercard makes up 1.1% of Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $417,156,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MA. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter valued at $11,421,213,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter worth about $4,238,764,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 38.6% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,413,936,000 after purchasing an additional 3,765,378 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Mastercard by 25.6% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,372,404 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,580,909,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,977 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Mastercard by 3,493.6% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 934,110 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $524,914,000 after purchasing an additional 908,116 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price target on Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $645.00 to $654.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Compass Point set a $620.00 target price on shares of Mastercard and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley set a $665.00 price target on shares of Mastercard and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Macquarie lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $652.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total transaction of $10,202,433.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,459,294. This represents a 35.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Mastercard Trading Down 1.8%

Mastercard stock opened at $545.31 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $465.59 and a one year high of $601.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $489.68 billion, a PE ratio of 36.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s fifty day moving average is $568.49 and its 200 day moving average is $570.09.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.31 by $0.07. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The firm had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.89 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 9th were issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.44%.

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.