Cetera Trust Company N.A Lowers Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Cetera Trust Company N.A lowered its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 313 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 25 shares during the period. Cetera Trust Company N.A’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $155,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Mastercard in the 1st quarter worth about $660,652,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Mastercard by 145.6% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,777,468 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $784,148,000 after buying an additional 1,053,616 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth about $259,071,000. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Mastercard by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,293,617 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,586,107,000 after buying an additional 387,317 shares during the period. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 53.4% during the 2nd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 1,043,557 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $460,376,000 after acquiring an additional 363,133 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on MA. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $528.00 to $538.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $490.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $520.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of Mastercard from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $470.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $525.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 119,000 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.46, for a total value of $55,746,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 92,033,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,113,923,465.68. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 119,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.46, for a total transaction of $55,746,740.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 92,033,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,113,923,465.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 13,439 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total value of $6,114,745.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,423,320. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 340,809 shares of company stock valued at $159,610,703. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of MA stock traded down $2.17 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $512.84. 557,562 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,432,542. The firm has a market capitalization of $476.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $359.77 and a 52-week high of $518.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $488.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $464.33.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.51 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $6.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.85 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 179.78% and a net margin of 46.45%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.99%.

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.