XXEC Inc. Cuts Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

XXEC Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,022 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,938 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up 10.0% of XXEC Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. XXEC Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $10,288,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Mastercard by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,897,854 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,612,087,000 after purchasing an additional 466,514 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its stake in Mastercard by 53,535.0% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 72,597,097 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $41,444,231,000 after purchasing an additional 72,461,743 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $20,807,283,000 after acquiring an additional 997,536 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Mastercard by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,686,605 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,773,153,000 after purchasing an additional 349,369 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its position in Mastercard by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,964,658 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,256,368,000 after buying an additional 759,584 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA opened at $490.73 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $433.60 billion, a PE ratio of 28.40, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $498.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $521.76. 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 Incorporated has a twelve month low of $464.52 and a twelve month high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The company’s revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.73 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $679.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $656.04.

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.