Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stock Position Reduced by Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas trimmed its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 295,974 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 8,249 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up approximately 0.7% of Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Mastercard were worth $168,353,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 0.8% during the second quarter. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,272 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,276,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. KRS Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 0.6% in the second quarter. KRS Capital Management LLC now owns 2,848 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,601,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Nvest Financial LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 1.2% in the second quarter. Nvest Financial LLC now owns 1,505 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $846,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 5.6% during the second quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 339 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $191,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 13.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on MA shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, January 12th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 14th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $661.24.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $532.53 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $555.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $565.62. The firm has a market cap of $478.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.86. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.31 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.28% and a return on equity of 202.03%. Mastercard’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 22.25%.

Mastercard 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.