Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 1,227 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,411 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,227 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $8,821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Tradewinds LLC. purchased a new position in Mastercard during the third quarter worth $275,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 568 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Whelan Financial boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 24.9% during the 3rd quarter. Whelan Financial now owns 1,661 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $945,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the period. Allstate Corp grew its holdings in Mastercard by 1,805.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 31,134 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $17,709,000 after purchasing an additional 29,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Violich Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Mastercard by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Violich Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,346,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA opened at $539.82 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $484.76 billion, a PE ratio of 34.52, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $557.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $566.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released 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. Mastercard had a return on equity of 202.03% and a net margin of 45.28%.The firm had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.89 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 22.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Macquarie raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $665.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. UBS Group increased their target price on Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $713.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $662.08.

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.