Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Has $103.07 Million Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Key Points

• The Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its stake in Mastercard by 4.4%, now holding 188,039 shares valued at $103.07 million, making it the fund's 14th largest position.
• Institutional investors own a significant 97.28% of Mastercard's stock, with several major investors including Vanguard and Northern Trust also increasing their holdings recently.
• Mastercard reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $4.15, exceeding analyst estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, representing an annual yield of 0.5%.

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 4.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 188,039 shares of the credit services provider's stock after buying an additional 7,900 shares during the quarter. Mastercard makes up 1.2% of Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's holdings in Mastercard were worth $103,068,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,544,675 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $42,503,787,000 after purchasing an additional 365,537 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Mastercard by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,149,181 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $4,817,684,000 after purchasing an additional 1,207,787 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Mastercard by 65,631.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,225,637 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $4,508,636,000 after purchasing an additional 8,213,123 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter valued at approximately $4,238,764,000. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 7,610,333 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $4,007,373,000 after acquiring an additional 71,874 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $650.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Mastercard from $640.00 to $612.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 target price on Mastercard in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn raised Mastercard from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $615.33.

Mastercard Price Performance

NYSE:MA opened at $578.08 on Thursday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $456.07 and a 12 month high of $594.71. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $563.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $554.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The firm has a market cap of $522.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03.

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. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%. The company had revenue of $8.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.50 EPS. Mastercard's quarterly revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 9th. Mastercard's payout ratio is currently 20.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 959 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $572.86, for a total transaction of $549,372.74. Following the sale, the insider owned 25,540 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,630,844.40. This represents a 3.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total value of $178,049.04. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,469 shares in the company, valued at $4,833,004.23. This represents a 3.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 38,453 shares of company stock valued at $20,178,667. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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