Great Lakes Advisors LLC Buys New Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,962 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,035,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Mastercard by 820.0% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 46 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hyposwiss Advisors SA bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Robinswood Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 54.1% in the fourth quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $632.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, July 31st. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $664.00 to $667.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Loop Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $631.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Mastercard from $665.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $629.00 to $642.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $664.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mastercard news, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 4,280 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.31, for a total transaction of $2,440,926.80. Following the sale, the insider owned 31,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,781,695.49. The trade was a 12.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total value of $108,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 3,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,793,880. The trade was a 5.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 71,357 shares of company stock worth $40,637,262 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $598.69 on Wednesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $464.52 and a 12-month high of $601.62. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $542.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $518.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96. The company has a market cap of $524.46 billion, a PE ratio of 32.93, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.72.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.77 by $0.27. Mastercard had a return on equity of 239.99% and a net margin of 46.34%.The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th were paid a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.14%.

Mastercard Profile

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.