Absolute Capital Management LLC Takes $235,000 Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Absolute Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 418 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, IMG Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $665.00 price objective on Mastercard and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group increased their target price on Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Macquarie lifted their target price on Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $652.50.

Mastercard Price Performance

Mastercard stock opened at $529.95 on Thursday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $465.59 and a 12-month high of $601.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $565.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $569.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $475.89 billion, a PE ratio of 35.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.92. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.31 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In related news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total value of $10,202,433.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,459,294. This represents a 35.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.