Corundum Group Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Corundum Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 42.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,402 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 721 shares during the period. Corundum Group Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,350,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Mastercard by 73.2% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 698 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $394,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Mastercard by 19.5% in the 1st quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 3,174 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,683,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Fortis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Mastercard by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Fortis Advisors LLC now owns 871 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $477,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida increased its holdings in Mastercard by 36.4% in the 1st quarter. Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida now owns 693 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $380,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Mastercard by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,463 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,632,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $650.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $630.89.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total value of $10,202,433.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,459,294. The trade was a 35.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total transaction of $178,049.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,469 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,833,004.23. This trade represents a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 35,391 shares of company stock worth $20,836,514. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of MA stock opened at $581.08 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $580.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $561.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The stock has a market cap of $525.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.18, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.97. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $465.59 and a twelve month high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The company’s revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.50 EPS. As a group, equities 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 will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 20.50%.

Mastercard Company Profile

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.