Secured Retirement Advisors Reduces Mastercard Holdings by 23.8%

Secured Retirement Advisors LLC has reduced its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) by 23.8% during the third quarter of 2023. According to the firm’s latest 13F filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the institutional investor now holds 3,547 shares of the credit services provider, having sold 1,110 shares during this period. Mastercard now represents approximately 1.1% of Secured Retirement Advisors’ investment portfolio, ranking as its 24th largest holding.

As of the latest filing, Secured Retirement Advisors’ holdings in Mastercard were valued at $2,018,000. Other institutional investors have also recently adjusted their positions in the company. For instance, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake by 1.2% in the second quarter, now owning 78,475,807 shares valued at approximately $44.1 billion.

In addition, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC established a new position in Mastercard valued at $11.4 billion. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings by 2.8%, acquiring an additional 542,841 shares to total 19,760,552 shares worth about $11.1 billion. Notably, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC expanded its position dramatically by 55,868.1%, now holding 13,421,148 shares valued at $7.5 billion.

Norges Bank also entered the fray, acquiring a new stake worth $6.7 billion. Overall, institutional investors own 97.28% of Mastercard’s stock.

Market Reactions and Analyst Ratings

Several brokerage firms have recently provided updates on Mastercard’s stock performance. Truist Financial downgraded its price target from $638.00 to $630.00 while maintaining a “buy” rating. Morgan Stanley set a new target price of $665.00 and described the stock as “overweight.” The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating with a price target of $713.00.

Conversely, Wall Street Zen downgraded Mastercard from a “buy” to a “hold” rating. Weiss Ratings maintained a “buy (b)” rating for the stock. Currently, five investment analysts have issued a Strong Buy recommendation, while twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, and three have categorized it as Hold. According to MarketBeat data, Mastercard has an average rating of “Buy” with an average target price of $657.48.

Mastercard’s Financial Performance

On October 30, 2023, Mastercard announced its quarterly earnings, revealing earnings per share (EPS) of $4.38, surpassing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.31 by $0.07. The company demonstrated a robust net margin of 45.28% and an impressive return on equity of 202.03%. Total revenue for the quarter reached $8.60 billion, slightly above the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. This marks a year-over-year revenue increase of 16.7%, compared to $3.89 EPS during the same quarter last year.

Analysts expect Mastercard to post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moreover, Mastercard recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.87, scheduled for payment on February 9, 2024. Shareholders of record on January 9, 2024, will receive this dividend, which is an increase from the previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This translates to an annualized dividend of $3.48, yielding 0.6%, with a payout ratio of 19.44%.

Mastercard Incorporated operates globally as a leading payments technology company. It connects consumers, businesses, and governments across more than 200 countries, facilitating electronic payments and offering a suite of services including fraud management, identity verification, and consulting services.

For further updates on Mastercard and insights into institutional holdings, interested parties can access resources such as HoldingsChannel.com for the latest 13F filings and insider trades.