Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Bought by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 31.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 653,263 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 156,096 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $363,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MA. Absoluto Partners Gestao de Recursos Ltda boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 15.2% in the second quarter. Absoluto Partners Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 4,195 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,357,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter valued at about $281,000. Nia Impact Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC now owns 4,828 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,713,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 5.4% in the second quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 4,730 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,658,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the second quarter worth about $431,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MA. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Mastercard from $645.00 to $654.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. Evercore ISI set a $610.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $654.81.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $571.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $554.16 and a 200 day moving average of $566.44. The firm has a market cap of $513.11 billion, a PE ratio of 36.53, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.87. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $465.59 and a one year high of $601.77.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $4.31 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.28% and a return on equity of 202.03%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.89 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. This is an increase 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 22.25%.

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.