Clune & Associates LTD. Cuts Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Clune & Associates LTD. trimmed its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 539 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 28 shares during the period. Clune & Associates LTD.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $303,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Klingman & Associates LLC lifted its position in Mastercard by 4.4% during the second quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 7,535 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,234,000 after purchasing an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 44,571 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $24,999,000 after acquiring an additional 3,411 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 11.7% during the second quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 2,255 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,267,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in Mastercard by 1.0% during the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,322,367 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $736,889,000 after purchasing an additional 12,641 shares during the period. Finally, Journey Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,243 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,822,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on MA shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Mastercard in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $650.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.04.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was 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 directly owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,330,922.26. The trade was a 36.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $566.35 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market cap of $511.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.19, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $580.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $564.03. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $465.59 and a 1 year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share 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 net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The company’s revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.50 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

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.