Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Acquired by Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 73,718 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,250 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $41,425,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,475,807 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $44,098,695,000 after buying an additional 931,132 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at about $11,421,213,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Mastercard by 4.7% during the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 907,184 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Mastercard by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,760,552 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,062,509,000 after acquiring an additional 542,841 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 38.6% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,413,936,000 after purchasing an additional 3,765,378 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MA shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Citigroup raised shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $645.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, August 11th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $669.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Compass Point set a $620.00 target price on Mastercard and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $652.50.

Mastercard Stock Up 2.4%

MA stock opened at $540.42 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $485.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.92. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $563.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $569.17. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.31 by $0.07. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The company had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.53 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.89 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 9th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 19.44%.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.