KBC Group NV Decreases Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

KBC Group NV reduced its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 445,783 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 3,865 shares during the quarter. Mastercard accounts for approximately 0.6% of KBC Group NV’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $222,740,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,594,000 after purchasing an additional 2,028 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its position in Mastercard by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 2,548 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,432,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Betterment LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 6.5% during the second quarter. Betterment LLC now owns 947 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $532,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 35.8% during the second quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 677,204 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $380,548,000 after acquiring an additional 178,387 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter worth about $431,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Mastercard in a research note on Monday, June 29th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $597.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $671.00 to $664.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $735.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Clear Str raised shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $653.92.

Mastercard Price Performance

NYSE MA opened at $543.55 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $503.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $515.80. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $464.52 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The stock has a market cap of $480.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.73 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.62 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be given a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other news, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total value of $108,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 3,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,793,880. This represents a 5.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,977 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.73, for a total value of $1,047,276.21. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,429 shares in the company, valued at $8,702,934.17. This trade represents a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 7,005 shares of company stock worth $3,689,976 in the last ninety days. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Company 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.