Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Position Raised by Nepsis Inc.

Nepsis Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 72.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 66,302 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,819 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises approximately 5.0% of Nepsis Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Nepsis Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $34,913,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 2.3% in the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,805,554 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,385,383,000 after acquiring an additional 62,891 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,510,756 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,325,353,000 after acquiring an additional 337,905 shares during the period. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its holdings in 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 valued at $194,141,000 after purchasing an additional 9,611 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP increased its position in Mastercard by 4.7% in the third quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $410,813,000 after buying an additional 37,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Mastercard by 2.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,010,430 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,474,151,000 after buying an additional 100,550 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MA shares. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $572.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Mastercard from $593.00 to $580.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $567.29.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $533.50 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $524.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $496.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $428.86 and a 1-year high of $537.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $489.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.36, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.39 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 EPS for the current year.

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

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.