Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stock Position Lowered by Findlay Park Partners LLP

Findlay Park Partners LLP lessened its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 514,990 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 18,600 shares during the quarter. Mastercard accounts for 3.0% of Findlay Park Partners LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Findlay Park Partners LLP owned 0.06% of Mastercard worth $289,393,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Mastercard by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,475,807 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $44,098,695,000 after buying an additional 931,132 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter valued at about $11,421,213,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,096,979 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,015,557,000 after acquiring an additional 907,184 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 2.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,760,552 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,062,509,000 after purchasing an additional 542,841 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Mastercard by 38.6% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 3,765,378 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on MA. Macquarie increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Mastercard from $638.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Mastercard from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Mastercard from $669.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Compass Point set a $620.00 price target on Mastercard and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $652.50.

Mastercard Price Performance

NYSE MA opened at $545.56 on Thursday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $465.59 and a 12 month high of $601.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $489.91 billion, a PE ratio of 36.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $560.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $568.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.31 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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 was paid on Friday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 19.44%.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In related news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total transaction of $10,202,433.00. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.