Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 462 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $228,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the third quarter worth $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. First Personal Financial Services acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 74.0% in the 3rd quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total transaction of $2,294,994.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 15,031 shares in the company, valued at $7,363,085.66. This trade represents a 23.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 90,000 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.80, for a total transaction of $42,192,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 91,649,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,965,195,590.40. This represents a 0.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 208,370 shares of company stock worth $97,749,218. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Argus raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $572.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their target price on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. BNP Paribas lowered Mastercard from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $470.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $547.80.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock traded up $2.18 on Friday, hitting $522.58. The stock had a trading volume of 315,432 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,442,533. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The stock has a market cap of $479.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50 day moving average is $503.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $470.59. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $395.55 and a twelve month high of $534.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.39 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.45 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 19.97%.

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.