VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Makes New Investment in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• The Virginia Retirement Systems acquired 83,562 shares of Mastercard valued at approximately $46.96 million during the second quarter, indicating strong institutional interest in the stock.
• Mastercard reported earnings of $4.15 per share for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations, and showed a 16.8% revenue increase year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, which will be paid on November 7th, representing a 0.5% yield and a payout ratio of 20.50%.

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 83,562 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $46,957,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at $18,459,294. This represents a 35.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Mastercard Stock Up 2.1%

Mastercard stock opened at $561.42 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $580.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $563.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The firm has a market cap of $507.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.97. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $465.59 and a twelve month high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.Mastercard's revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.50 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on MA shares. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 price objective on Mastercard in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $650.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Mastercard from $640.00 to $612.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen raised Mastercard from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Mastercard from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $634.04.

About Mastercard

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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