Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by GSG Advisors LLC

GSG Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 8.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 686 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 62 shares during the quarter. GSG Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $354,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 65,631.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,225,637 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,508,636,000 after acquiring an additional 8,213,123 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth about $4,238,764,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Mastercard by 38.6% in 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 during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Mastercard by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,149,181 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,817,684,000 after purchasing an additional 1,207,787 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at about $561,313,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on MA shares. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 price target on Mastercard in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $645.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group increased their target price on Mastercard from $660.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $617.93.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $582.06 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $526.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.03. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $461.90 and a 12-month high of $594.71. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $563.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $554.61. 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 (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.50 earnings per share. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 9th were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 20.50%.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In related news, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 959 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $572.86, for a total value of $549,372.74. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 25,540 shares in the company, valued at $14,630,844.40. This trade represents a 3.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Craig Vosburg sold 14,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.05, for a total transaction of $8,220,537.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 58,451 shares in the company, valued at $34,196,757.55. This trade represents a 19.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,453 shares of company stock valued at $20,178,667 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.