Stance Capital LLC Sells 2,174 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Stance Capital LLC trimmed its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 27.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,818 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 2,174 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises about 1.2% of Stance Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Stance Capital LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $3,269,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth $11,421,213,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised 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. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,725,317,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $7,413,936,000 after purchasing an additional 3,765,378 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Mastercard by 25.6% during the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 1,299,977 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MA shares. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $645.00 to $654.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Mastercard from $669.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res raised Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $610.00 price target on Mastercard in a research report on Friday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $654.81.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $571.40 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $554.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $566.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40. The firm has a market cap of $513.12 billion, a PE ratio of 36.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.87.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its 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 return on equity of 202.03% and a net margin of 45.28%.The company had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.89 EPS. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. This is an increase from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.44%.

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.