Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stock Position Lowered by Balboa Wealth Partners

Balboa Wealth Partners lessened its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,718 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 236 shares during the period. Balboa Wealth Partners’ holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,651,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. ORG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 73.2% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 698 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the period. Ethos Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 19.5% during the first quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 3,174 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,683,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the period. Wheelhouse Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.4% during the second quarter. Wheelhouse Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,336 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $751,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 36.4% during the first quarter. Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida now owns 693 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 4.3% during the second quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,463 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,632,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at $18,459,294. This represents a 35.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MA shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen raised Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Seaport Res Ptn raised Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $645.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.04.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA opened at $561.42 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $507.53 billion, a PE ratio of 37.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $580.22 and a 200-day moving average of $563.50. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $465.59 and a 52-week high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.10. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.The company had revenue of $8.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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