Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd Buys 29,613 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd boosted its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 29.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 130,340 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,613 shares during the period. Mastercard comprises 1.3% of Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $68,587,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.3% in the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,805,554 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,385,383,000 after purchasing an additional 62,891 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Mastercard by 15.6% during 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 buying an additional 337,905 shares in the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its position in Mastercard by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $410,813,000 after buying an additional 37,486 shares in the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 368,690 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $194,141,000 after acquiring an additional 9,611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.0% in the third 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on MA shares. Macquarie increased their price target on Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $580.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $566.63.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $523.08 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $480.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $425.48 and a twelve month high of $537.70. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $524.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $493.43.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.39 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.46 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 19.97%.

Mastercard announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, December 17th that permits the company to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Mastercard Company Profile

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.