SteelPeak Wealth LLC Increases Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

SteelPeak Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 50.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 14,003 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,675 shares during the quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $6,996,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 53,535.0% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 72,597,097 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $41,444,231,000 after purchasing an additional 72,461,743 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,705,708,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 861.6% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 4,072,210 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,324,743,000 after buying an additional 3,648,748 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $20,807,283,000 after buying an additional 997,536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at $497,311,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total value of $108,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 3,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,793,880. This trade represents a 5.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 4,828 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.00, for a total value of $2,534,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 16,429 shares in the company, valued at $8,625,225. The trade was a 22.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,005 shares of company stock valued at $3,689,976. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $551.15 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $503.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $516.04. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $464.52 and a 52-week high of $601.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $486.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.73.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The business’s revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.73 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on MA shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $679.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Clear Str raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler began coverage on Mastercard in a research note on Monday, June 29th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $597.00 price objective on the stock. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $653.92.

Mastercard Profile

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. The company facilitates electronic payments and transaction processing for credit, debit and prepaid card products carrying the Mastercard brand, while also providing a range of payment-related services to issuers, acquirers and merchants. Its technology and network enable authorization, clearing and settlement of payments and support a broad set of use cases including point-of-sale, e-commerce and mobile payments.

Beyond core transaction processing, Mastercard offers a suite of value-added services such as fraud and risk management, identity and authentication tools, tokenization and digital wallet support, cross-border and commercial payment solutions, and data analytics and consulting services for merchants and financial partners.