Banque Pictet & Cie SA Sells 30,565 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Banque Pictet & Cie SA trimmed its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 886,001 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 30,565 shares during the period. Mastercard comprises approximately 3.5% of Banque Pictet & Cie SA’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Banque Pictet & Cie SA’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $497,879,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,544,675 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $42,503,787,000 after purchasing an additional 365,537 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter valued at about $11,421,213,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,096,979 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,015,557,000 after acquiring an additional 907,184 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 38.6% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,413,936,000 after acquiring an additional 3,765,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 65,631.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,225,637 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,508,636,000 after purchasing an additional 8,213,123 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $660.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $645.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock 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 issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $630.89.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $567.36 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $578.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $559.77. 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 has a market cap of $512.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.99. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $465.59 and a one year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total value of $178,049.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,833,004.23. The trade was a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total transaction of $10,202,433.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at $18,459,294. This trade represents a 35.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,349 shares of company stock worth $21,372,994. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.