Utah Retirement Systems Trims Stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Utah Retirement Systems reduced its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 135,241 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 1,547 shares during the quarter. Mastercard accounts for approximately 0.8% of Utah Retirement Systems' holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Utah Retirement Systems' holdings in Mastercard were worth $71,214,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Whalerock Point Partners LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Whalerock Point Partners LLC now owns 14,678 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $7,729,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 368,690 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $194,141,000 after buying an additional 9,611 shares during the period. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. now owns 68,237 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $35,932,000 after purchasing an additional 2,931 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Mastercard by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,510,756 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,325,353,000 after acquiring an additional 337,905 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Mastercard by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,031,915 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,497,160,000 after purchasing an additional 138,842 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MA shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded shares of Mastercard from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Mastercard from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Raymond James restated an "outperform" rating and set a $640.00 price target (up from $614.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $606.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 15,775 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.16, for a total value of $8,678,774.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 84,871 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,692,629.36. This represents a 15.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Edward Grunde Mclaughlin sold 7,132 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $534.68, for a total value of $3,813,337.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 34,524 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,459,292.32. This represents a 17.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA traded up $12.55 on Friday, hitting $559.18. 2,632,574 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,614,804. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $428.86 and a 12-month high of $582.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $532.33 and a 200-day moving average of $531.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $509.81 billion, a PE ratio of 40.26, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The credit services provider reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.12 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.71% and a return on equity of 188.47%. The business's revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.31 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.89%.

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.