Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Has $80.38 Million Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 21.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 141,308 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 25,100 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up approximately 0.5% of Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $80,377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Mastercard by 55,868.1% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,421,148 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,541,880,000 after purchasing an additional 13,397,168 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Mastercard during the second quarter worth $6,725,317,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 25.6% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,372,404 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,580,909,000 after buying an additional 1,299,977 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,475,807 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $44,098,695,000 after buying an additional 931,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,760,552 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,062,509,000 after acquiring an additional 542,841 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on MA. Evercore set a $610.00 price target on Mastercard in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Mastercard from $660.00 to $668.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Daiwa Securities Group set a $610.00 price target on Mastercard and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $685.00 to $655.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $739.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $669.27.

Mastercard Price Performance

MA opened at $537.69 on Thursday. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $554.67 and a 200 day moving average of $563.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $482.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.55, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.83.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.52. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.65% and a return on equity of 203.92%. The firm had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.82 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.07%.

Mastercard Company Profile

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.