Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Shares Sold by Metropolis Capital Ltd

Metropolis Capital Ltd cut its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 23.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 304,445 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 90,744 shares during the quarter. Mastercard accounts for 5.6% of Metropolis Capital Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Metropolis Capital Ltd’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $160,312,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd lifted its position in Mastercard by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,805,554 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,385,383,000 after buying an additional 62,891 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,510,756 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,325,353,000 after acquiring an additional 337,905 shares during the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 368,690 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $194,141,000 after purchasing an additional 9,611 shares in the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% during the third quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $410,813,000 after purchasing an additional 37,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,010,430 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,474,151,000 after purchasing an additional 100,550 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on MA. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Mastercard from $593.00 to $580.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $564.00 to $654.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $572.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $567.29.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $533.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $428.86 and a 52 week high of $537.70. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $524.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $496.23. The company has a market capitalization of $489.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.39 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 23.00%.

Mastercard declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 17th that permits the company to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. The company offers integrated products and value-added services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, digital partners, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid programs services; and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid payment products and solutions.