Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is Metropolis Capital Ltd’s 10th Largest Position

Metropolis Capital Ltd cut its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 23.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 304,445 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 90,744 shares during the period. Mastercard comprises approximately 5.6% of Metropolis Capital Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Metropolis Capital Ltd’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $160,312,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Mastercard by 21.2% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 454,183 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $200,368,000 after buying an additional 79,418 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Mastercard by 1.4% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,082,729 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,241,297,000 after acquiring an additional 71,569 shares in the last quarter. Dundas Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth $19,614,000. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,826,000. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 2,626 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,158,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Mastercard from $575.00 to $591.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $572.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $567.29.

Mastercard Stock Up 1.2 %

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

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.00%.

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.