VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Sells 16,960 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al lessened its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 21.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 62,802 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 16,960 shares during the quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $35,852,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MA. Tacita Capital Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 50.0% in the third quarter. Tacita Capital Inc now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 250.0% in the third quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 54.1% in the fourth quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Dagco Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 200.0% in the fourth quarter. Dagco Inc. now owns 66 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Joseph Group Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MA shares. Evercore restated a “negative” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Mastercard from $650.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup dropped their price target on Mastercard from $735.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Mastercard from $685.00 to $655.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $656.00.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA opened at $500.18 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $441.95 billion, a PE ratio of 28.95, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.76. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $505.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $533.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $480.50 and a 1 year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The business’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.73 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.58 EPS for the current year.

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.