River Street Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

River Street Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,189 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 67 shares during the quarter. River Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,081,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Goldstein Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $749,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 1,677 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $834,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Oldfather Financial Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Oldfather Financial Services LLC now owns 827 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC now owns 455 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $225,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guerra Pan Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Guerra Pan Advisors LLC now owns 1,225 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $605,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Mastercard from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Argus raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America raised their price target on Mastercard from $480.00 to $509.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Macquarie raised their price target on Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $549.16.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 15,031 shares in the company, valued at $7,363,085.66. The trade was a 23.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 90,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 208,370 shares of company stock worth $97,749,218. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MA traded up $1.49 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $521.89. 2,408,193 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,452,135. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $504.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $471.04. The firm has a market cap of $479.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.48, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $395.55 and a twelve month high of $534.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.39 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.45 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.97%.

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.