Scotia Capital Inc. Increases Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Scotia Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 159,590 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 622 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $89,677,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MA. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter valued at about $11,421,213,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 55,868.1% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,421,148 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,541,880,000 after purchasing an additional 13,397,168 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard in the first quarter valued at approximately $4,238,764,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 38.6% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,413,936,000 after purchasing an additional 3,765,378 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 25.6% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,372,404 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,580,909,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,977 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,459,294. The trade was a 35.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA opened at $545.56 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $465.59 and a one year high of $601.77. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $559.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $568.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $489.91 billion, a PE ratio of 36.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.92.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced 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. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.The firm had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.89 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on MA. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $713.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Mastercard from $638.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Citigroup raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $665.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $652.50.

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.