Bellwether Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 181 Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Bellwether Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 181 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $95,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NewSquare Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Truvestments Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 62.5% during the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 65 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 483.3% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 70 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In other news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 15,775 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,692,629.36. This represents a 15.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Edward Grunde Mclaughlin sold 7,132 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $18,459,292.32. This represents a 17.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $635.00 price objective (up from $591.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Mastercard from $654.00 to $644.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group lifted their price target on Mastercard from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $607.96.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA opened at $534.39 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $533.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $530.55. The stock has a market cap of $487.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.47, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $428.86 and a 52 week high of $582.23.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a return on equity of 188.47% and a net margin of 45.71%. On average, analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.89%.

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.