Rafferty Asset Management LLC Increases Stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 289,658 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,615 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $152,525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $85,624,000. Redwood Investment Management LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 58.3% during the 4th quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $628,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,984,000. Polar Capital Holdings Plc increased its position in Mastercard by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 93,308 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $49,133,000 after purchasing an additional 4,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Port Capital LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Port Capital LLC now owns 110,049 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $57,949,000 after purchasing an additional 860 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $640.00 price objective (up previously from $614.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $652.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $606.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In related news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 15,775 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.16, for a total transaction of $8,678,774.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,692,629.36. The trade was a 15.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 150 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.00, for a total value of $87,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,887,900. The trade was a 4.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,207 shares of company stock worth $12,664,529. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA stock opened at $572.89 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $522.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.24, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $428.86 and a 1 year high of $582.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $533.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $534.45.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The credit services provider reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $7.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.12 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 188.47% and a net margin of 45.71%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.31 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

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.