5 Financial Stocks to Buy According to Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group

1. Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Citadel Investment Group’s Stake Value: $519,535,000

Percentage of Citadel Investment Group’s 13F Portfolio: 0.10%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 146

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is the best financial stock to buy according to Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, in addition to being immensely popular among the hedge funds. In the third quarter, 146 funds reported owning stakes in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA), valued at $17.65 billion. Akre Capital Management is the largest Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) stakeholder from Q3, with a position worth more than $2 billion. 

Ken Griffin holds a $519.5 million stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) as of September this year, which accounts for 0.1% of his total Q3 investments. Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is a financial services corporation that offers credit cards and payment systems worldwide. 

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA), on October 28, reported earnings for the third quarter. EPS in the period totaled $2.37, exceeding estimates by $0.18. The $4.99 billion revenue was up 29.92% year-over-year, beating revenue estimates by $35.79 million. 

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.49 per share on November 30, up from $0.40 in the previous quarter. The cash dividend will be paid on February 9, 2022 to shareholders of record on January 7, 2022.

UBS analyst Rayna Kumar assumed coverage of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) on November 17 with a Buy rating and a $448 price target. The analyst believes that the largest growth opportunities for Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) are in Latin America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.

Here is what Polen Capital has to say about Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in its Q3 2021 investor letter:

“Mastercard faced pressure as some believe these “old payment infrastructure” businesses will be disrupted by newer fintech companies using blockchain, buy now, pay later (BNPL), or other innovations to provide better/cheaper payment services. However, we believe that some of these technologies have meaningful limitations which could benefit existing payment networks. For example, BNPL transactions are often funded with cards and turn a one-time transaction into many smaller ones with more transaction fees for Mastercard. Just like with regulation, we continually monitor for competition and technological disruption. As of now, we do not see a significant risk in the foreseeable future to this company.”

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