Beacon Financial Group Has $2.04 Million Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Beacon Financial Group grew its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,630 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 93 shares during the quarter. Beacon Financial Group’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,040,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Flaharty Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 10Elms LLP acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, August 1st. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $645.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $650.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $626.54.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total value of $178,049.04. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,833,004.23. This represents a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $546.77, for a total transaction of $601,447.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 12,921 shares in the company, valued at $7,064,815.17. The trade was a 7.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 49,094 shares of company stock valued at $26,521,861. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE MA opened at $583.30 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $574.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $558.34. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $465.59 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $527.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.99.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.10. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The firm had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.50 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 20.50%.

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.