Dearborn Partners LLC Sells 3,732 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Dearborn Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 85,474 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 3,732 shares during the period. Mastercard accounts for approximately 1.7% of Dearborn Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Dearborn Partners LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $42,207,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 46.4% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 14,785 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,120,000 after purchasing an additional 4,685 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 20.1% in the 1st quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 1,659 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $760,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter valued at $137,081,000. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Mastercard by 1.2% during the first quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,334 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,046,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 17.3% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 28,679 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $13,811,000 after acquiring an additional 4,227 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In related news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total value of $2,310,173.50. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 17,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,440,885.80. The trade was a 21.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 109,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.45, for a total value of $50,952,050.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 91,924,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,970,017,774.60. This represents a 0.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 208,370 shares of company stock worth $97,749,218. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MA shares. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Mastercard from $532.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $572.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday. William Blair raised shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Macquarie raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $547.80.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $520.40 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $394.76 and a 1 year high of $534.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $502.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $470.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $477.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.39 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders 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 presently 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.