Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Raises Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,727 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $970,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MA. LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Mastercard during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $669.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $638.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,459,294. The trade was a 35.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.3%

MA stock opened at $570.57 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $465.59 and a twelve month high of $601.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $515.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $579.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $564.14.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.05 by $0.10. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The business had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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