Hardy Reed LLC Has $2.47 Million Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Hardy Reed LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,992 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Hardy Reed LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,465,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 5.0% in the third quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 115,002 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $56,788,000 after purchasing an additional 5,447 shares in the last quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC now owns 3,601 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,669,000 after acquiring an additional 398 shares in the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 5,062 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,500,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 6,105 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,015,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 3.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,355,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,545,139,000 after purchasing an additional 700,769 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

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 value of $2,294,994.10. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 15,031 shares in the company, valued at $7,363,085.66. This trade represents a 23.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of MA opened at $528.48 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $508.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $474.83. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $404.32 and a one year high of $534.03. The company has a market capitalization of $485.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.98, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.39 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 19.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on MA. Compass Point assumed coverage on Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $525.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $480.00 to $509.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Argus upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $549.16.

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.