Avanza Fonder AB Buys 4,555 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Avanza Fonder AB lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 60,815 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,555 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up about 0.9% of Avanza Fonder AB’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Avanza Fonder AB’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $34,592,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,475,807 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $44,098,695,000 after acquiring an additional 931,132 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter valued at about $11,421,213,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 2.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,760,552 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,062,509,000 after purchasing an additional 542,841 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,725,317,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, October 31st. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Mastercard from $638.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Mastercard from $645.00 to $654.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note 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 report on Thursday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $657.48.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.5%

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

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.44%.

About Mastercard

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.