Korea Investment CORP Sells 43,760 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Korea Investment CORP trimmed its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 586,876 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 43,760 shares during the quarter. Mastercard makes up approximately 0.7% of Korea Investment CORP’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $329,789,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MA. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at about $11,421,213,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 55,868.1% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,421,148 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,541,880,000 after purchasing an additional 13,397,168 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $4,238,764,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Mastercard by 38.6% during 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 buying an additional 3,765,378 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Mastercard by 25.6% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,372,404 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,580,909,000 after buying an additional 1,299,977 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MA shares. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $665.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Mastercard from $669.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Mastercard from $638.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Compass Point set a $620.00 target price on shares of Mastercard and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $652.50.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE:MA opened at $545.56 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $560.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $568.64. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $465.59 and a 1-year high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $489.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.79, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.92.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.31 by $0.07. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The business had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.89 EPS. The business’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 year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 9th were given a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,459,294. This trade represents a 35.60% 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. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.