Renaissance Group LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Renaissance Group LLC reduced its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 63,391 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 996 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises approximately 1.4% of Renaissance Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Renaissance Group LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $36,058,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MA. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 23.3% during the third quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 61,646 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $35,024,000 after purchasing an additional 11,642 shares in the last quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Mastercard by 39.7% during the third quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,151 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,068,000 after buying an additional 2,034 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC now owns 31,312 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $17,811,000 after buying an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its stake in Mastercard by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 254,781 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $144,922,000 after acquiring an additional 2,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,767 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,143,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $549.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $555.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $564.28. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The company has a market cap of $493.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.24, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.83.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.82 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Compass Point upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $620.00 to $735.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Evercore set a $610.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Daiwa America upgraded Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $739.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $669.18.

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.