BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Purchases 22,080 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 293,652 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,080 shares during the period. Mastercard comprises about 1.5% of BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $167,032,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 2.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,760,552 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,062,509,000 after purchasing an additional 542,841 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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 acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the second quarter worth approximately $6,725,317,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 25.6% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,372,404 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,580,909,000 after buying an additional 1,299,977 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on MA shares. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $668.00 to $671.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Mastercard from $660.00 to $668.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Citigroup raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Macquarie upped their target price on Mastercard from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $609.00 price target on Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $669.18.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.4%

MA opened at $552.82 on Thursday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $555.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $564.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The company has a market cap of $496.43 billion, a PE ratio of 33.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.83.

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

Mastercard Company 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.