Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Shares Bought by Centaurus Financial Inc.

Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 23,444 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,062 shares during the period. Mastercard accounts for about 0.7% of Centaurus Financial Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $11,577,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 120,665.3% during the third 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 buying an additional 8,035,099 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Mastercard during the first quarter worth $660,652,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Mastercard by 145.6% during 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 buying an additional 1,053,616 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard during the second quarter worth $259,071,000. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. increased its position in Mastercard by 52.8% during the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,185,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $573,017,000 after buying 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 other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 15,031 shares of the company’s stock, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. William Blair upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. BNP Paribas cut Mastercard from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Mastercard from $566.00 to $572.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $549.16.

Mastercard Stock Up 1.1 %

MA 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’s 50-day moving average is $506.91 and its 200 day moving average is $473.69. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $404.32 and a fifty-two week high of $534.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $478.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.40, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.39 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a 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.