Jennison Associates LLC Has $2.56 Billion Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Jennison Associates LLC increased its Mastercard stake by 10.4% in the first quarter, adding 480,725 shares to bring its total holdings to 5.12 million shares worth about $2.56 billion.
• Mastercard has continued to attract heavy institutional interest, with 97.28% of shares owned by institutions and hedge funds, even as a few insiders recently sold stock under pre-arranged trading plans.
• The company reported strong first-quarter results, beating earnings and revenue estimates, and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.87 per share; analysts currently rate the stock a Buy on average with a target price of $653.92.

Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 10.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,123,041 shares of the credit services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 480,725 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up about 1.8% of Jennison Associates LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Jennison Associates LLC owned 0.57% of Mastercard worth $2,559,779,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd boosted its position in Mastercard by 7.3% in the first quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 139,844 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $70,089,000 after buying an additional 9,504 shares in the last quarter. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,113,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 9,795 shares in the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 396.3% in the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 46,145 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $26,343,000 after acquiring an additional 36,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marble Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,328,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total transaction of $108,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 3,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,793,880. The trade was a 5.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,977 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.73, for a total value of $1,047,276.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,429 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,702,934.17. The trade was a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 7,005 shares of company stock worth $3,689,976 in the last ninety days. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $543.55 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $480.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $503.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $516.23. 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.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.73 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.62 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be given a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MA shares. Loop Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $631.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Susquehanna cut their price objective on Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Mastercard from $735.00 to $675.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $640.00 target price for the company. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $653.92.

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.

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