Peregrine Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA – Free Report) by 6.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 91,837 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 6,044 shares during the period. Mastercard accounts for about 1.7% of Peregrine Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Peregrine Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $45,887,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,897,854 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,612,087,000 after buying an additional 466,514 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 53,535.0% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 72,597,097 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $41,444,231,000 after acquiring an additional 72,461,743 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,807,283,000 after acquiring an additional 997,536 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,686,605 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,773,153,000 after acquiring an additional 349,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Mastercard by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,964,658 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,256,368,000 after purchasing an additional 759,584 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several equities research analysts have commented on MA shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $656.00 to $629.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $605.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Mastercard from $735.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $653.81.
Mastercard Price Performance
NYSE MA opened at $513.24 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $496.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $519.34. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $464.52 and a 52-week high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market cap of $453.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.70, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.74.
Mastercard (NYSE:MA – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.73 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Mastercard Dividend Announcement
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.14%.
Key Stories Impacting Mastercard
Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Mastercard launched an Africa Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence in South Africa, a move that could deepen relationships with governments and financial institutions while reinforcing its role in digital security. Mastercard launches Africa Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence
- Positive Sentiment: The company is working with quantum computing firm OQC to explore better fraud detection, which could help Mastercard combat the large and growing fraud problem in payments. Mastercard (MA) Stock Rises as It Taps Quantum Tech to Fight $343 Billion Fraud Problem
- Positive Sentiment: An analyst began coverage on Mastercard with a bullish view, adding to sentiment support for the stock. This Mastercard Analyst Begins Coverage On A Bullish Note; Here Are Top 5 Initiations For Tuesday
- Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard highlighted that 87% of Moroccan SMEs remain confident about their business outlook, which is supportive of regional economic activity but is not a direct financial catalyst. Mastercard: 87% of Moroccan SMEs Confident About Business Outlook
- Negative Sentiment: Reports that a Visa-Mastercard settlement could affect rewards credit cards may pressure investor sentiment if it raises concerns about future card economics or rewards-related revenue. Visa, Mastercard settlement might impact rewards credit cards
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.
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