Cox Capital Mgt LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Cox Capital Mgt LLC lowered its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 43.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,834 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 2,969 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises about 1.4% of Cox Capital Mgt LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Cox Capital Mgt LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,181,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MA. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,421,213,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 55,868.1% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter worth $6,725,317,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake 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 valued at $3,580,909,000 after buying an additional 1,299,977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,475,807 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $44,098,695,000 after buying an additional 931,132 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Mastercard from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target 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. Macquarie lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $713.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $654.81.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $564.92 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $465.59 and a 52-week high of $601.77. The company has a market capitalization of $507.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50 day moving average of $553.47 and a 200 day moving average of $566.14.

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

Mastercard Increases Dividend

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