Whalen Wealth Management Inc. Cuts Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Whalen Wealth Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 55.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 844 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,058 shares during the quarter. Whalen Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $480,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,475,807 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $44,098,695,000 after acquiring an additional 931,132 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth $11,421,213,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Mastercard by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,096,979 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,015,557,000 after purchasing an additional 907,184 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 2.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,760,552 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,062,509,000 after purchasing an additional 542,841 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 55,868.1% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,421,148 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,541,880,000 after purchasing an additional 13,397,168 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:MA opened at $565.88 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $508.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.18, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $465.59 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The business has a fifty day moving average of $553.51 and a 200-day moving average of $566.13.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.31 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.60 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is an increase from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MA. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $665.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Mastercard from $669.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $657.48.

Mastercard 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.