Public Sector Pension Investment Board Raises Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 92.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 230,216 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 110,300 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $113,681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MA. Fiduciary Trust Co raised its position in Mastercard by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 50,068 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $24,724,000 after purchasing an additional 5,667 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in Mastercard by 18.6% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 430,699 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $212,679,000 after acquiring an additional 67,663 shares in the last quarter. MayTech Global Investments LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 17.4% in the third quarter. MayTech Global Investments LLC now owns 77,168 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $38,106,000 after acquiring an additional 11,432 shares during the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $673,000. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 36.2% in the 3rd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 9,783 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,831,000 after purchasing an additional 2,601 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MA. Susquehanna upped their price target on Mastercard from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Mastercard from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $470.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Argus raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $549.16.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $532.19 on Thursday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $508.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $475.23. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $404.32 and a 52 week high of $534.03. The company has a market cap of $488.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.26, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total transaction of $2,310,173.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 17,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. The trade was a 21.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.