Ellsworth Advisors LLC Sells 26 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Ellsworth Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 6.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 26 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $218,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Jacobi Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 6,736 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,692,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. BOS Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. BOS Asset Management LLC now owns 1,476 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $809,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. MBL Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. MBL Wealth LLC now owns 1,311 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $719,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 109.3% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 751,416 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $411,833,000 after acquiring an additional 392,454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 9,720 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,328,000 after acquiring an additional 954 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Up 1.7%

MA stock opened at $589.12 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $574.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $558.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. The company has a market capitalization of $532.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.99.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.05 by $0.10. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.The firm had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.50 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business 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 was Wednesday, July 9th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $546.77, for a total value of $601,447.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 12,921 shares in the company, valued at $7,064,815.17. This represents a 7.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total value of $178,049.04. Following the sale, the director owned 8,469 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,833,004.23. This represents a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,094 shares of company stock worth $26,521,861 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 price target on Mastercard in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. UBS Group upped their price target on Mastercard from $660.00 to $670.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $626.54.

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.