Employees Provident Fund Board Makes New $248.62 Million Investment in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Employees Provident Fund Board bought a new position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 435,500 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $248,618,000. Mastercard makes up 1.8% of Employees Provident Fund Board’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vulcan Value Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 6.5% during the third quarter. Vulcan Value Partners LLC now owns 466,222 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $265,233,000 after acquiring an additional 28,331 shares during the period. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,113,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 229,299 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $130,902,000 after acquiring an additional 9,795 shares during the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 396.3% in the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 46,145 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,343,000 after purchasing an additional 36,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marble Wealth LLC bought a new position in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,328,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MA shares. Evercore reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Raymond James Financial set a $609.00 target price on Mastercard in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $561.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $679.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $656.04.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $490.73 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $498.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $521.76. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $464.52 and a twelve month high of $601.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. The company has a market cap of $433.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.74.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.73 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.14%.

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.