World Investment Advisors Raises Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• World Investment Advisors increased its stake in Mastercard by 17.4% in Q4 to 25,028 shares worth about $14.29 million, and institutional investors now own roughly 97.28% of the stock.
• Analysts have a consensus Buy rating on MA with an average price target of $664.40 after recent upgrades and coverage initiations from firms including Bank of America and BNP Paribas.
• Mastercard beat quarterly expectations with EPS of $4.76 (vs. $4.24) and revenue up 17.5% year-over-year, and it announced a quarterly dividend of $0.87 (annualized $3.48, ~0.7% yield).

World Investment Advisors lifted its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 17.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,028 shares of the credit services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,705 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors' holdings in Mastercard were worth $14,288,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MA. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $3,594,000 after buying an additional 2,028 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. increased its position in Mastercard by 8.5% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 2,548 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,432,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Betterment LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 6.5% in the second quarter. Betterment LLC now owns 947 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $532,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 35.8% in the second quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 677,204 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $380,548,000 after purchasing an additional 178,387 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard in the second quarter worth $431,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MA. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $700.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $685.00 to $655.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Mastercard from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $664.40.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.0%

MA stock opened at $498.80 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $480.50 and a twelve month high of $601.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $444.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.83. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $513.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $541.60.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid 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 of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Mastercard's payout ratio is currently 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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