Secured Retirement Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Secured Retirement Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 23.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,547 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,110 shares during the period. Mastercard accounts for about 1.1% of Secured Retirement Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,018,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, IMG Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Macquarie boosted their target price on Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Citigroup upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Truist Financial decreased 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. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $657.48.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $579.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $520.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $555.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $565.87. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $465.59 and a 1-year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.31 by $0.07. Mastercard had a return on equity of 202.03% and a net margin of 45.28%.The business had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.