Prospera Financial Services Inc Purchases 1,260 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Prospera Financial Services Inc lifted its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 29,599 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,260 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $16,850,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Profund Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3.4% during the third quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 11,789 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $6,706,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 8.2% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 52,985 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $30,138,000 after buying an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,804 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,283,000 after buying an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,274 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,844,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Financial Strategies LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC now owns 550 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $313,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard Trading Down 2.4%

NYSE MA opened at $535.49 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $480.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $555.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $564.13. 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 one year low of $465.59 and a one year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.52. The firm had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.80 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 203.92% and a net margin of 45.65%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.82 EPS. Research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th were issued a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 21.07%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MA shares. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Mastercard from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Mastercard from $665.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. HSBC upgraded Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $665.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $669.18.

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.