Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Purchased by Alps Advisors Inc.

Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 74,885 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,924 shares during the quarter. Alps Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $42,595,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MA. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Mastercard by 55,868.1% in 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 bought a new position in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,725,317,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in 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. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% in 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. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 542,841 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on MA. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $665.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Compass Point raised shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $620.00 to $735.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. HSBC raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $739.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Daiwa America raised Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Six investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $669.18.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $549.07 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $555.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $564.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $493.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.24, a PEG ratio of 1.78 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 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.82 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Stockholders 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 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 (DPR) is currently 21.07%.

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.