Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stock Holdings Boosted by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 72,128 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,017 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $39,776,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MA. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,964,305 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $18,984,867,000 after acquiring an additional 486,283 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 10.4% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,123,041 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,559,779,000 after acquiring an additional 480,725 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 1.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,225,359 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,111,216,000 after purchasing an additional 42,871 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 17.8% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,666,018 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,831,763,000 after purchasing an additional 554,366 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 5.8% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 3,626,416 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,862,527,000 after purchasing an additional 199,424 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Mastercard from $597.00 to $710.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $695.00 to $765.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Evercore boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $550.00 to $620.00 in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $700.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Freedom Broker lowered shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $620.00 to $725.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $709.45.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE:MA opened at $658.91 on Wednesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $464.52 and a 1 year high of $681.99. The stock has a market cap of $574.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $595.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $540.39.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $0.14. Mastercard had a return on equity of 260.86% and a net margin of 46.73%. The business had revenue of $9.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.66 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.38 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 20.00 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 9th. Investors of record on Friday, October 9th were issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 18.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, insider Sachin Mehra sold 7,444 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.13, for a total value of $4,296,155.72. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 40,916 shares in the company, valued at $23,613,851.08. This represents a 15.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ling Hai sold 4,318 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $642.43, for a total transaction of $2,774,012.74. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 35,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,966,872.50. The trade was a 10.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 25,403 shares of company stock worth $15,428,736 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

More Mastercard News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup raised its Mastercard price target from $675 to $800 and maintained a “buy” rating. The new target implies about 21.4% upside from the cited $658.91 price, signaling increased analyst optimism. TickerReport article
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard will be the card-network partner for Sage’s planned small-business accounts and debit cards, initially being implemented in France with Adyen. The arrangement could broaden Mastercard’s reach among small businesses. Sage partnership article
• Positive Sentiment: Other partnerships include a BMO business credit card in Canada and a Citizens treasury-management service using Mastercard technology, expanding its commercial-card and corporate-services footprint. Business banking partnerships article
• Positive Sentiment: Investor activity has also been supportive: one report said Pershing Square added to Mastercard in the second quarter, while another reported a fund increased its stake by 1,884% in the third quarter. Pershing Square holdings article Fund holdings article
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Michael Miebach described cybersecurity as a major concern for protecting financial infrastructure. The comments highlight an ongoing industry risk, but no specific breach or new Mastercard-related impact was reported. Cybersecurity interview

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses and governments. Its network supports electronic payments, including transactions made with Mastercard-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards, as well as digital payment methods. The company provides technology for authorizing, clearing and settling transactions. It also offers services related to cybersecurity, identity verification, data analytics, fraud prevention and payment consulting.