Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stock Position Lessened by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 536,007 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 8,275 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $305,996,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,594,000 after buying an additional 2,028 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 2,548 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,432,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Betterment LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 6.5% in the second quarter. Betterment LLC now owns 947 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $532,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 35.8% in the second quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 677,204 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $380,548,000 after acquiring an additional 178,387 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter valued at approximately $431,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $739.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Macquarie Infrastructure upped their price objective on Mastercard from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Bank of America started coverage on Mastercard in a report on Thursday, March 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $700.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $605.00 price target for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $656.00.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA opened at $505.39 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. The firm has a market cap of $446.55 billion, a PE ratio of 29.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $502.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $530.89. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $480.50 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The business had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.73 earnings per share. Mastercard’s revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.