Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by GWN Securities Inc.

GWN Securities Inc. cut its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 85.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 978 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 5,836 shares during the period. GWN Securities Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $557,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MA. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at $11,421,213,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter valued at about $4,238,764,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 38.6% in the first 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 3,493.6% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 934,110 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $524,914,000 after acquiring an additional 908,116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% in the first 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 in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total value of $10,202,433.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,459,294. This represents a 35.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MA. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup raised shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $645.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, August 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $650.00 target price on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $665.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $638.96.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.1%

MA stock opened at $565.79 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $511.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.97. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $578.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $567.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced 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 company had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

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.