AdvisorShares Investments LLC Cuts Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

AdvisorShares Investments LLC cut its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 16.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 809 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 162 shares during the quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $455,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Mastercard by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,544,675 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $42,503,787,000 after acquiring an additional 365,537 shares during the last quarter. 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 boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 4.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 907,184 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in 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. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,238,764,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total value of $10,202,433.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,459,294. The trade was a 35.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Price Performance

Mastercard stock opened at $554.26 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $501.05 billion, a PE ratio of 37.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.97. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $465.59 and a 52-week high of $601.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The company’s 50 day moving average is $577.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $567.43.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.31 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 9th will be given a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 20.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $650.00 price target for the company. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $665.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $645.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $641.93.

Mastercard Profile

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.