Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Acquired by Fisher Funds Management LTD

Fisher Funds Management LTD raised its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 10.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 195,699 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,396 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises approximately 2.9% of Fisher Funds Management LTD’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Fisher Funds Management LTD’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $97,795,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 20.0% in the second quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 108 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,939 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,678,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc. increased its stake in Mastercard by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 590 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Thomasville National Bank raised its holdings in Mastercard by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 479 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC now owns 695 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $387,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MA shares. Loop Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $631.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Mastercard from $656.00 to $629.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $656.04.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of MA opened at $490.73 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $464.52 and a 52-week high of $601.77. The firm has a market cap of $433.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.40, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s fifty day moving average is $498.76 and its 200-day moving average is $521.61.

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

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.14%.

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.