Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Has $1.93 Million Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC cut its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 59.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,428 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 5,057 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,927,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Mastercard by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,544,675 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $42,503,787,000 after buying an additional 365,537 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at approximately $11,421,213,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Mastercard by 4.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,096,979 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,015,557,000 after buying an additional 907,184 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 38.6% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,413,936,000 after purchasing an additional 3,765,378 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter worth approximately $4,238,764,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MA shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Mastercard from $640.00 to $612.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $630.89.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $581.08 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $580.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $561.67. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $465.59 and a 12-month high of $601.77. The company has a market capitalization of $525.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.05 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $8.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.50 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 20.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $586.89, for a total value of $10,456,032.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at $18,330,922.26. This represents a 36.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total value of $178,049.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 8,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,833,004.23. This trade represents a 3.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,391 shares of company stock valued at $20,836,514 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard 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.