Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New Investment in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 41,500 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $20,736,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 108 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,597 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $908,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 1,717 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $977,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,939 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,678,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Finally, Abacus Planning Group Inc. raised its holdings in Mastercard by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 590 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA opened at $489.15 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $432.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.31, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a fifty day moving average of $497.40 and a 200 day moving average of $519.99. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $464.52 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced 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. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.73 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on MA shares. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Mastercard from $656.00 to $629.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial set a $609.00 price objective on Mastercard in a research report on Friday, May 1st. 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 objective for the company. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $561.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $656.08.

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.