Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Acquired by Sovran Advisors LLC

Sovran Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 6.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,602 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,464,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MA. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 65,631.5% during 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 during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard during the first quarter worth about $4,238,764,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Mastercard by 38.6% during 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 buying an additional 3,765,378 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth about $561,313,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Mastercard by 4.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,096,979 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,015,557,000 after buying an additional 907,184 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mastercard Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $586.39 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $465.59 and a 12-month high of $601.77. The company has a market capitalization of $530.11 billion, a PE ratio of 39.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $576.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $558.89.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $612.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $655.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $630.89.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total transaction of $178,049.04. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,833,004.23. This represents a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,100 shares of the company’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 transaction of $601,447.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 12,921 shares in the company, valued at $7,064,815.17. The trade was a 7.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 38,717 shares of company stock worth $22,684,831. 0.09% of the stock is currently 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.