Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. Lowers Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. lowered its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 119,639 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 3,342 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up about 2.9% of Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $68,052,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MA. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,272 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,276,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. KRS Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.6% in the second quarter. KRS Capital Management LLC now owns 2,848 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,601,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Nvest Financial LLC grew its position in Mastercard by 1.2% during the second quarter. Nvest Financial LLC now owns 1,505 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $846,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Mastercard by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 339 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $191,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 13.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $579.61 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40. The company has a market cap of $520.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.06, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.87. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $465.59 and a 12 month high of $601.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $555.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $565.84.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly 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 company 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 firm’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.89 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. 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 dividend yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 19.44%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $669.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $638.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $665.00 price target on shares of Mastercard and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $657.48.

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.