Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC Lowers Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC cut its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,226 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 33 shares during the quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,099,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 14.2% in the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 20,552 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,897,000 after acquiring an additional 2,556 shares in the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the 1st quarter valued at about $608,000. SteelPeak Wealth LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 48.6% during the 2nd quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 4,928 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,174,000 after purchasing an additional 1,612 shares in the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP raised its holdings in Mastercard by 2.2% in the first quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 734,881 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $353,897,000 after buying an additional 15,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter worth approximately $2,938,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MA shares. Barclays upped their price objective on Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Mastercard from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Mastercard from $535.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Argus raised shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $532.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $524.64.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA opened at $516.45 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $486.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $464.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $359.77 and a 52 week high of $518.00. The stock has a market cap of $480.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.05, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.51 by $0.08. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.45% and a return on equity of 179.78%. The company had revenue of $6.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.85 billion. On average, analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.3 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 20.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 13,439 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total transaction of $6,114,745.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,423,320. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total transaction of $2,310,173.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 17,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 13,439 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total transaction of $6,114,745.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,423,320. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 340,809 shares of company stock valued at $159,610,703. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.