Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Invests $227.58 Million in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 443,116 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $227,584,000. Mastercard accounts for about 2.9% of Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC owned 0.05% of Mastercard at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Robinswood Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its position in Mastercard by 820.0% in 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 buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Hyposwiss Advisors SA acquired a new position in Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, First Pacific Financial raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 113.8% during the 1st quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 62 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 15,372 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $575.00, for a total transaction of $8,838,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,873,475. This trade represents a 14.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 4,280 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.31, for a total value of $2,440,926.80. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 31,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,781,695.49. This represents a 12.07% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 71,357 shares of company stock worth $40,637,262. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA opened at $598.35 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $545.04 and its 200-day moving average is $518.79. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $464.52 and a 12-month high of $601.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $524.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.72.

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

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MA shares. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, June 29th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $597.00 price target for the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on Mastercard from $640.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Mastercard from $629.00 to $642.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Wolfe Research increased their price target on Mastercard from $680.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on Mastercard from $664.00 to $667.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $664.71.

About Mastercard

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.