Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC Sells 5,489 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 58.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,958 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 5,489 shares during the period. Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,251,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MA. Robbins Farley boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC grew its position in Mastercard by 2.2% during the third quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 841 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $479,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Alpine Bank Wealth Management raised its stake in Mastercard by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management now owns 1,817 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,034,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Zullo Investment Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,091 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $621,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Mastercard by 20.0% in the 2nd quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 108 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MA shares. Raymond James Financial cut their price target on Mastercard from $707.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wall Street Zen cut Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Mastercard from $685.00 to $655.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $611.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $670.61.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE:MA opened at $517.69 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $538.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $556.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $461.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.34, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.83. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $465.59 and a 1 year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.82 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 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.