Cerity Partners LLC Increases Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 402,032 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,829 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $229,508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,897,854 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,612,087,000 after acquiring an additional 466,514 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $20,807,283,000 after acquiring an additional 997,536 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,686,605 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,773,153,000 after acquiring an additional 349,369 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,964,658 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,256,368,000 after acquiring an additional 759,584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,705,708,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $484.94 on Tuesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $464.52 and a 12-month high of $601.77. The company has a market capitalization of $428.49 billion, a PE ratio of 28.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $499.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $524.72.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.73 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on MA. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Mastercard from $656.00 to $629.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price target on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $656.04.

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.