GAM Holding AG Acquires 540 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

GAM Holding AG grew its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,876 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 540 shares during the period. GAM Holding AG’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $11,790,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 48,854 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $24,124,000 after buying an additional 1,219 shares during the period. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 786 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Mastercard by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 11,847 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,850,000 after purchasing an additional 889 shares during the period. Pictet North America Advisors SA boosted its stake in Mastercard by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pictet North America Advisors SA now owns 15,488 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,648,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the period. Finally, Metropolis Capital Ltd boosted its stake in Mastercard by 19.2% in the 3rd quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 395,189 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $195,144,000 after purchasing an additional 63,541 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MA shares. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Mastercard from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $470.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $570.00 to $593.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. William Blair upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $525.68.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE MA opened at $513.02 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $476.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $489.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $464.58. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $359.77 and a 1 year high of $518.82.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.51 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $6.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.85 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.45% and a return on equity of 179.78%. As a group, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 20.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 13,439 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total value of $6,114,745.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,304 shares in the company, valued at $12,423,320. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 13,439 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total value of $6,114,745.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,423,320. The trade was a 0.00 % 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 business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.45, for a total transaction of $50,952,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 91,924,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,970,017,774.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 340,809 shares of company stock worth $159,610,703 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.