Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC Increases Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,176 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $661,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at approximately $11,421,213,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,096,979 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,015,557,000 after acquiring an additional 907,184 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 38.6% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,413,936,000 after acquiring an additional 3,765,378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter worth approximately $4,238,764,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Macquarie boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $713.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $645.00 to $654.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $647.59.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $552.68 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $574.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $568.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $465.59 and a 1-year high of $601.77. The company has a market cap of $499.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.97.

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. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.The company had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.89 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 19.44%.

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.