Clark Asset Management LLC Sells 69 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Clark Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,959 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 69 shares during the quarter. Clark Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,787,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter worth $25,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter worth $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter worth $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter worth $31,000. Finally, IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter worth $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,459,294. This represents a 35.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $645.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $638.96.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of MA opened at $571.51 on Tuesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $465.59 and a twelve month high of $601.77. The company has a market cap of $516.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.97. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $579.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $566.75.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.