Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Has $22.17 Million Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 39,443 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,208 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $22,165,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MA. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the topic of several research reports. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $655.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $634.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $586.89, for a total value of $10,456,032.24. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at $18,330,922.26. The trade was a 36.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE MA opened at $576.40 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $521.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.87, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.97. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $581.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $562.55. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $465.59 and a twelve month high of $601.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.50 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 20.50%.

Mastercard Profile

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.