Ewa LLC Raises Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Ewa LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 11.9% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,296 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Ewa LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $728,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,594,000 after purchasing an additional 2,028 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 9.3% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 411 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1,468.9% during the first quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 706 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $387,000 after purchasing an additional 661 shares during the period. Apella Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter worth about $337,000. Finally, Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 3.6% during the first quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,459 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $800,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on MA. Wall Street Zen downgraded Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $630.89.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of MA stock opened at $574.40 on Thursday. 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 company has a market cap of $519.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.73, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $579.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $561.01. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $465.59 and a 1-year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.10. The firm 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 revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.50 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.50%.

Insider Activity

In other Mastercard news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,833,004.23. This trade represents a 3.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $586.89, for a total value of $10,456,032.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,330,922.26. The trade was a 36.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 35,391 shares of company stock worth $20,836,514. 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.