Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Purchases 18,555 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 405,395 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 18,555 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $200,184,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Rench Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 10.6% in the third quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. now owns 11,605 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,731,000 after buying an additional 1,116 shares during the last quarter. Port Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.7% in the third quarter. Port Capital LLC now owns 109,189 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $53,918,000 after buying an additional 807 shares during the last quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.4% in the third quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 74,153 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $36,808,000 after buying an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 21.3% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,951 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,908,000 after buying an additional 2,097 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ingalls & Snyder LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 5.9% in the third quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 15,044 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,429,000 after buying an additional 835 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MA shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $544.00 to $564.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Compass Point assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $525.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $572.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $549.16.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.0 %

MA opened at $521.12 on Thursday. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $404.32 and a twelve month high of $535.77. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $512.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market cap of $478.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.42, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total value of $2,294,994.10. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 15,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,363,085.66. This trade represents a 23.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.