Empirical Finance LLC Increases Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 28,985 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 934 shares during the period. Mastercard comprises about 0.6% of Empirical Finance LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $14,887,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd grew its position in Mastercard by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 139,844 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $70,089,000 after acquiring an additional 9,504 shares during the last quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan lifted its position in Mastercard by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 65,414 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $37,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,768 shares during the last quarter. Marble Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,328,000. Charles Lim Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $15,699,000. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its position in Mastercard by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 28,205 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $14,093,000 after buying an additional 1,434 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Trading Down 1.5%

Mastercard stock traded down $8.86 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $570.35. 2,705,394 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,620,135. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $464.52 and a 52-week high of $601.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $499.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $559.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $521.90.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.77 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.08 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.34% and a return on equity of 239.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.15 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $670.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $642.00 to $696.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Mastercard from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $701.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” 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 given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $666.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,977 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.73, for a total transaction of $1,047,276.21. Following the transaction, the insider owned 16,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,702,934.17. This represents a 10.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 3,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,793,880. This represents a 5.68% decrease in their position. 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 sold a total of 74,623 shares of company stock valued at $42,544,606 over the last ninety days. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.