Mastercard Incorporated $MA Position Increased by Meridian Wealth Management LLC

Meridian Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,240 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,329 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $9,842,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Mastercard by 2.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,807,283,000 after acquiring an additional 997,536 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Mastercard by 1.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,431,340 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $45,181,341,000 after acquiring an additional 955,533 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Mastercard by 792.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 865,523 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $494,110,000 after acquiring an additional 768,514 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Mastercard by 6.5% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,347,834 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,885,944,000 after acquiring an additional 629,941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $289,353,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE:MA opened at $497.95 on Tuesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $480.50 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $505.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $533.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $439.98 billion, a PE ratio of 28.82, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.76.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.73 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.58 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Loop Capital assumed coverage on Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $631.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $605.00 price target for the company. Evercore reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $609.00 price target on Mastercard in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $657.07.

About Mastercard

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.