Advisor Resource Council Acquires Shares of 998 Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Advisor Resource Council bought a new position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 998 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $493,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 120,665.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,041,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,971,020,000 after purchasing an additional 8,035,099 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth $660,652,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 145.6% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,777,468 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $784,148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053,616 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter valued at about $259,071,000. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Mastercard by 13.3% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,293,617 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,586,107,000 after buying an additional 387,317 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MA shares. BNP Paribas downgraded Mastercard from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $470.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $480.00 to $509.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Compass Point began coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $525.00 target price for the company. Macquarie upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $591.00 price objective for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $540.17.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In related news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 119,000 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.46, for a total transaction of $55,746,740.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 92,033,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,113,923,465.68. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total transaction of $2,294,994.10. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 15,031 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,363,085.66. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 119,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.46, for a total value of $55,746,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 92,033,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,113,923,465.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 327,370 shares of company stock valued at $153,495,958 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Trading Up 3.1 %

MA stock opened at $521.13 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The company has a market cap of $481.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.42, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $498.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $468.02. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $384.30 and a 52 week high of $527.90.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.39 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.45 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

Mastercard Company 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.