Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Shares Bought by Baron Wealth Management LLC

Baron Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 42.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 938 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 120,665.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,041,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,971,020,000 after purchasing an additional 8,035,099 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter valued at about $660,652,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 145.6% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,777,468 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $784,148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053,616 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter valued at about $259,071,000. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 13.3% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,293,617 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,586,107,000 after purchasing an additional 387,317 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $521.63 on Tuesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $398.26 and a 12-month high of $534.03. The stock has a market cap of $478.77 billion, a PE ratio of 39.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $504.78 and a 200 day moving average of $471.95.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.39 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.97%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 17,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,440,885.80. This represents a 21.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 90,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold a total of 99,370 shares of company stock valued at $46,797,168 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MA shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $572.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Mastercard from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Compass Point started coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $525.00 target price for the company. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BNP Paribas cut shares of Mastercard from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $470.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $549.16.

Mastercard Company 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.