Swiss National Bank Acquires 149,000 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 6.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,484,860 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 149,000 shares during the quarter. Mastercard accounts for approximately 0.7% of Swiss National Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,241,585,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,594,000 after buying an additional 2,028 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 2,548 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,432,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Betterment LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Betterment LLC now owns 947 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $532,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 35.8% in the 2nd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 677,204 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $380,548,000 after buying an additional 178,387 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at $431,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of MA opened at $543.55 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $503.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $516.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $464.52 and a 52-week high of $601.77. The company has a market cap of $480.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.46, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.73.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The business’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.73 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 20.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Mastercard from $735.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $679.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $656.00 to $629.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $561.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $653.92.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total transaction of $108,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 3,322 shares in the company, valued at $1,793,880. This represents a 5.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 4,828 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.00, for a total transaction of $2,534,700.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 16,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,625,225. This represents a 22.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 7,005 shares of company stock worth $3,689,976. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. The company facilitates electronic payments and transaction processing for credit, debit and prepaid card products carrying the Mastercard brand, while also providing a range of payment-related services to issuers, acquirers and merchants. Its technology and network enable authorization, clearing and settlement of payments and support a broad set of use cases including point-of-sale, e-commerce and mobile payments.

Beyond core transaction processing, Mastercard offers a suite of value-added services such as fraud and risk management, identity and authentication tools, tokenization and digital wallet support, cross-border and commercial payment solutions, and data analytics and consulting services for merchants and financial partners.