Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Bought by AustralianSuper Pty Ltd

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 47.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 592,356 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 191,302 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up 1.7% of AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $332,869,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MA. LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, IMG Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on MA shares. Truist Financial set a $638.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $638.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total transaction of $10,202,433.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at $18,459,294. The trade was a 35.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $573.72 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $518.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.69, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $579.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $566.36. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $465.59 and a 12-month high of $601.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.Mastercard’s revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.50 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.50%.

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.