Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Holdings Lifted by Capital Investment Counsel LLC

Capital Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,144 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 596 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $6,491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 120,665.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,041,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,971,020,000 after purchasing an additional 8,035,099 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter worth about $660,652,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its position 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 worth $784,148,000 after acquiring an additional 1,053,616 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter valued at approximately $259,071,000. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 52.8% in the 3rd quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,185,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $573,017,000 after acquiring an additional 409,334 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In related news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total value of $2,294,994.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 15,031 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,363,085.66. This represents a 23.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MA shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $572.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Macquarie upped their price target on Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Mastercard from $566.00 to $572.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho upped their target price on Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $549.16.

Mastercard Stock Up 1.1 %

MA stock opened at $520.86 on Friday. 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 has a 50-day moving average of $506.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $473.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $478.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $404.32 and a 52-week high of $534.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.39 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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