Seeds Investor LLC Raises Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Seeds Investor LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 8.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,194 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 167 shares during the quarter. Seeds Investor LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,155,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,179,138 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $40,640,219,000 after acquiring an additional 377,302 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 22,267,937 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,725,627,000 after purchasing an additional 912,856 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,657,792 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $9,800,202,000 after acquiring an additional 282,739 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at about $6,022,224,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,760,740 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,139,713,000 after purchasing an additional 817,836 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the subject of a number of research reports. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $584.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $633.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $635.00 price target (up previously from $591.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $607.96.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 15,775 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.16, for a total transaction of $8,678,774.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 84,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,692,629.36. This trade represents a 15.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Edward Grunde Mclaughlin sold 7,132 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $534.68, for a total value of $3,813,337.76. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 34,524 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,459,292.32. This trade represents a 17.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $509.66 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $428.86 and a twelve month high of $582.23. The firm has a market cap of $464.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $542.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $528.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a return on equity of 188.47% and a net margin of 45.71%. As a group, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.89%.

Mastercard announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.