Mirova US LLC Sells 42,095 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Mirova US LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,028,601 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 42,095 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises 5.9% of Mirova US LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Mirova US LLC owned about 0.11% of Mastercard worth $585,079,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the second quarter worth approximately $11,421,213,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 55,868.1% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,421,148 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,541,880,000 after buying an additional 13,397,168 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth $6,725,317,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 25.6% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,372,404 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,580,909,000 after buying an additional 1,299,977 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Mastercard by 1.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,475,807 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $44,098,695,000 after buying an additional 931,132 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $577.89 on Tuesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $518.95 billion, a PE ratio of 36.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $555.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $565.42.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.31 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.28% and a return on equity of 202.03%. The company’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 19.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $713.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Macquarie boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 14th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $657.48.

Mastercard Company Profile

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.