Garrison Point Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Garrison Point Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,356 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 223 shares during the quarter. Mastercard accounts for about 1.1% of Garrison Point Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Garrison Point Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,448,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,594,000 after buying an additional 2,028 shares during the last quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Mastercard in the 1st quarter worth about $69,000. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 17.4% during the 1st quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC now owns 595 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $327,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Phillips Financial Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC now owns 878 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $481,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MJP Associates Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 7.4% in the first quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 2,209 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,211,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MA. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 18th. Macquarie increased their price target on Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Seaport Res Ptn raised Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Compass Point set a $620.00 target price on Mastercard and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $586.89, for a total transaction of $10,456,032.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,330,922.26. This trade represents a 36.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $551.98 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two 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. The company has a market capitalization of $499.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a fifty day moving average of $572.24 and a 200 day moving average of $568.95.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.31 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.The business’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.89 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 9th were paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.44%.

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.