Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by New York Life Investment Management LLC

New York Life Investment Management LLC lessened its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 120,140 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,232 shares during the quarter. Mastercard makes up approximately 0.6% of New York Life Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $68,337,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 valued at $44,098,695,000 after acquiring an additional 931,132 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,760,552 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,062,509,000 after purchasing an additional 542,841 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $7,541,880,000 after purchasing an additional 13,397,168 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at $6,725,317,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Mastercard by 25.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,299,977 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Mastercard from $685.00 to $655.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 30th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Mastercard from $668.00 to $671.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Compass Point upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $620.00 to $735.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Citigroup upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $669.18.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.5%

MA stock opened at $549.07 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $555.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $564.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $493.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 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 for the quarter, topping 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 firm 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 company posted $3.82 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This is an increase 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 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.