Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Bought by Spire Wealth Management

Spire Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 7.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,238 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,248 shares during the quarter. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $18,906,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 931,132 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth about $11,421,213,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,760,552 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,062,509,000 after buying an additional 542,841 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 13,397,168 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,725,317,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $580.34 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $556.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $566.38. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $465.59 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $521.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

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

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 19.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on MA shares. Macquarie raised their target price on Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen lowered Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 14th. Citigroup raised shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $713.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $665.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $657.48.

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.