Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Purchased by BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S

Key Points

• BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its Mastercard stake by 18.8% in the first quarter, buying 58,235 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 368,510 shares worth about $184.1 million.
• Mastercard reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.60 beating estimates and revenue of $8.40 billion topping expectations; revenue rose 15.8% year over year.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.87 per share, payable on August 7, which works out to an annualized yield of about 0.7%.

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 18.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 368,510 shares of the credit services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 58,235 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises 1.9% of BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S's holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S's holdings in Mastercard were worth $184,130,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,897,854 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $45,612,087,000 after buying an additional 466,514 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 53,535.0% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 72,597,097 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $41,444,231,000 after buying an additional 72,461,743 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 2.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $20,807,283,000 after buying an additional 997,536 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,686,605 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $11,773,153,000 after acquiring an additional 349,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Mastercard by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,964,658 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $10,256,368,000 after acquiring an additional 759,584 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $679.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered Mastercard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $605.00 price objective for the company. Six equities research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $656.04.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $490.73 on Monday. The company's fifty day moving average is $498.76 and its 200-day moving average is $521.61. The stock has a market cap of $433.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.74. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $464.52 and a twelve month high of $601.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.73 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard's payout ratio is presently 20.14%.

Mastercard 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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