BLB&B Advisors LLC Sells 287 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

BLB&B Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 7.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,615 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 287 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,981,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rovin Capital UT ADV increased its stake in Mastercard by 11.2% in the first quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 476 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $261,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 149.4% during the first quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 4,076 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,442 shares during the last quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd raised its holdings in Mastercard by 47.4% in the 1st quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 4,042 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,216,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLC raised its stake in Mastercard by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLC now owns 13,231 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,252,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter valued at $272,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In related news, insider Craig Vosburg sold 14,051 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.05, for a total transaction of $8,220,537.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 58,451 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,196,757.55. This represents a 19.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 310 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $561.00, for a total transaction of $173,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,669,203. This represents a 3.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,441 shares of company stock valued at $20,173,035 in the last three months. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Mastercard Trading Up 2.1%

MA opened at $561.96 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.81, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The company has a market cap of $512.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $564.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $545.76. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $428.86 and a fifty-two week high of $594.71.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The credit services provider reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.21% and a return on equity of 196.87%. The firm had revenue of $7.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.31 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $550.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $611.50.

Mastercard Company 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.