Synergy Asset Management LLC Boosts Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Synergy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,930 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $5,580,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Mastercard by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,544,675 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $42,503,787,000 after buying an additional 365,537 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at approximately $11,421,213,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in 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 valued at $11,015,557,000 after buying an additional 907,184 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in 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 valued at $7,413,936,000 after buying an additional 3,765,378 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard in the first quarter valued at approximately $4,238,764,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $645.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $612.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $650.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $630.89.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $577.76 on Friday. 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $580.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $561.32. The firm has a market cap of $522.30 billion, a PE ratio of 38.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.97. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $465.59 and a 12-month high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The business’s revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.50 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Thursday, October 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 20.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of Mastercard 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,459,294. The trade was a 35.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total transaction of $178,049.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,833,004.23. This represents a 3.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 35,391 shares of company stock valued at $20,836,514. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.