Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Raises Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,993 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 955 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $19,749,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MA. Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its stake in Mastercard by 4.7% in the third quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $410,813,000 after purchasing an additional 37,486 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $1,497,160,000 after acquiring an additional 138,842 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,010,430 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,474,151,000 after acquiring an additional 100,550 shares during the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 48.6% in the second quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 4,928 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,174,000 after purchasing an additional 1,612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OMC Financial Services LTD acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth about $17,854,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total transaction of $2,294,994.10. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 15,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,363,085.66. The trade was a 23.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MA shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $566.00 to $572.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $572.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $549.16.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA stock traded up $3.90 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $532.38. 2,086,434 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,465,729. The company’s 50 day moving average is $508.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $475.23. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $404.32 and a 1 year high of $534.03. The company has a market cap of $488.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.39 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 19.97%.

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.