Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by Natural Investments LLC

Key Points

• Natural Investments LLC cut its Mastercard stake by 22.9% in Q4, selling 2,395 shares and now owning 8,067 shares worth $4.605 million (about 1.1% of its portfolio and its 18th-largest holding).
• Institutional ownership is very high at 97.28%; major funds added to positions—State Street (+997,536 shares to 36.58M), Vanguard (+955,533 to 79.43M) and Assenagon (up 792.2% to 865,523 shares).
• Mastercard beat quarterly EPS estimates ($4.76 vs. $4.24) with revenue up 17.5% to $8.81B, announced a $0.87 quarterly dividend (annual $3.48, yield 0.7%), and holds a consensus Buy rating with a $664.40 target.

Natural Investments LLC cut its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 22.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,067 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 2,395 shares during the period. Mastercard accounts for about 1.1% of Natural Investments LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Natural Investments LLC's holdings in Mastercard were worth $4,605,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. 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 acquiring an additional 997,536 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Mastercard by 1.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,431,340 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $45,181,341,000 after purchasing an additional 955,533 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Mastercard by 792.2% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 865,523 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $494,110,000 after purchasing an additional 768,514 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Mastercard by 6.5% during the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,347,834 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $5,885,944,000 after purchasing an additional 629,941 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Mastercard during the third quarter worth $245,980,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on MA shares. Bank of America started coverage on Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $700.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Mastercard from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Truist Financial set a $611.00 price target on Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Mastercard from $700.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Mastercard from $660.00 to $668.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $664.40.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE:MA opened at $508.19 on Tuesday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $512.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $541.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $453.20 billion, a PE ratio of 30.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.83. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $480.50 and a 12 month high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.52. The company had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.80 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 203.92% and a net margin of 45.65%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.82 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.07%.

About Mastercard

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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