Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Bought by UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp boosted its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,001 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,685 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $6,257,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MA. LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter worth about $29,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Robbins Farley boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 54 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 45.2% in the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 61 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE:MA opened at $532.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $555.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $565.62. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $478.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.05, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.86.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.31 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.53 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 202.03% and a net margin of 45.28%.The company’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 22.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI set a $610.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 14th. Compass Point upgraded Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $620.00 to $735.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley set a $665.00 price target on shares of Mastercard and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $661.24.

Mastercard 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.