Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by Hantz Financial Services Inc.

Hantz Financial Services Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 68,842 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 4,163 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $39,158,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 25.4% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,107 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,887,000 after acquiring an additional 2,453 shares in the last quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.6% in the third quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. now owns 1,943 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,105,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 2.0% in the third quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,176 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,944,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. grew its stake in Mastercard by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. now owns 37,538 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $21,352,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Mastercard by 85.0% during the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 407 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $234,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Mastercard from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Compass Point raised shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $620.00 to $735.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $609.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $669.18.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.9%

MA stock opened at $550.64 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $494.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.33, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $465.59 and a twelve month high of $601.77. The company’s 50 day moving average is $555.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $564.48.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.52. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.65% and a return on equity of 203.92%. The business had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.82 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 21.07%.

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.