AQR Capital Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Mastercard by 6.4%, acquiring an additional 30,070 shares, bringing its total to 497,167 shares valued at approximately $265 million.
• Insiders, including CFO J. Mehra Sachin and Craig Vosburg, sold a combined total of 56,269 shares valued at over $30 million in recent transactions.
• Multiple analysts upgraded their ratings for Mastercard, with price targets boosted; Royal Bank of Canada raised its target to $656, while UBS increased its target to $670, indicating strong confidence in the stock's performance.

AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 6.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 497,167 shares of the credit services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 30,070 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 0.05% of Mastercard worth $265,298,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 65,631.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,225,637 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $4,508,636,000 after acquiring an additional 8,213,123 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter valued at approximately $4,238,764,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 38.6% during the first 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 acquiring an additional 3,765,378 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $561,313,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 907,184 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total transaction of $10,202,433.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at $18,459,294. This trade represents a 35.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 958 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $536,480.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 23,624 shares in the company, valued at $13,229,440. The trade was a 3.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 59,481 shares of company stock valued at $32,616,595. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock traded down $11.43 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $584.21. The company had a trading volume of 2,432,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,252,842. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $465.59 and a one year high of $601.77. The firm has a market cap of $528.13 billion, a PE ratio of 39.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $572.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $557.52.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.50 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the subject of several research reports. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 price objective on Mastercard in a report on Monday, June 23rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Mastercard from $660.00 to $670.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Truist Financial reduced 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $626.54.

Mastercard 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.