Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lowered its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 19.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 50,543 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 12,486 shares during the quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $28,402,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MA. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,594,000 after buying an additional 2,028 shares in the last quarter. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $363,000. 111 Capital bought a new stake in Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth approximately $522,000. Finally, Fire Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at $534,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MA shares. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. 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 note on Thursday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $630.89.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In related news, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 958 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $536,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 23,624 shares in the company, valued at $13,229,440. This represents a 3.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 7th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 3.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,349 shares of company stock valued at $21,372,994 over the last three months. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $567.36 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $465.59 and a twelve month high of $601.77. The stock 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. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The company’s fifty day moving average is $578.74 and its 200-day moving average is $559.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued 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. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The firm had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.50 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

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.