Aberdeen Group plc Trims Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc reduced its holdings in Mastercard by 0.9%, owning approximately 978,911 shares after selling 8,551 shares during the second quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including Wellington Management Group LLP and Assenagon Asset Management S.A., significantly increased their stakes in Mastercard, highlighting strong interest in the stock.
• Analysts have generally maintained an overweight rating on Mastercard, with price targets raised by multiple firms, indicating a positive outlook for the company's stock performance.

Aberdeen Group plc trimmed its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 978,911 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 8,551 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises approximately 0.9% of Aberdeen Group plc's holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Aberdeen Group plc owned about 0.11% of Mastercard worth $545,351,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,421,213,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $4,238,764,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Mastercard by 38.6% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $7,413,936,000 after buying an additional 3,765,378 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Mastercard by 3,493.6% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 934,110 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $524,914,000 after buying an additional 908,116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,096,979 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $11,015,557,000 after purchasing an additional 907,184 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $634.04.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total transaction of $10,202,433.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,459,294. The trade was a 35.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.4%

NYSE MA opened at $556.80 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The company has a fifty day moving average of $581.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $562.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $503.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.55, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.97. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. Mastercard's quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.50 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard's payout ratio is presently 20.50%.

Mastercard Company Profile

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. The company offers integrated products and value-added services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, digital partners, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid programs services; and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid payment products and solutions.

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