Mastercard Incorporated $MA Holdings Decreased by Nan Shan Life Insurance Co. Ltd.

Nan Shan Life Insurance Co. Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 29.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 64,100 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 26,227 shares during the quarter. Nan Shan Life Insurance Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $35,134,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MA. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 65,631.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,225,637 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,508,636,000 after acquiring an additional 8,213,123 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard in the first quarter worth about $4,238,764,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Mastercard by 38.6% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,413,936,000 after acquiring an additional 3,765,378 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Mastercard by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,149,181 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,817,684,000 after acquiring an additional 1,207,787 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth about $561,313,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $650.00 to $652.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Macquarie cut their price objective on Mastercard from $645.00 to $610.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $617.93.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $584.38 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $528.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.41, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $563.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $554.81. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $461.90 and a 52 week high of $594.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.50 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 9th were paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 9th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 20.50%.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In related news, insider Craig Vosburg sold 9,428 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.05, for a total value of $3,328,555.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 58,451 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,636,125.55. The trade was a 13.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $546.77, for a total value of $601,447.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 12,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,064,815.17. The trade was a 7.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,453 shares of company stock worth $20,178,667. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.