Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Trims Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lowered its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 333,018 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 4,890 shares during the quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $164,444,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its stake in Mastercard by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $410,813,000 after acquiring an additional 37,486 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,031,915 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,497,160,000 after acquiring an additional 138,842 shares in the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter valued at about $608,000. SteelPeak Wealth LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 48.6% in the second quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 4,928 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,174,000 after buying an additional 1,612 shares during the period. Finally, OMC Financial Services LTD acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter valued at $17,854,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MA shares. Bank of America boosted their target price on Mastercard from $480.00 to $509.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $591.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Mastercard from $593.00 to $580.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $549.16.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.7 %

Mastercard stock traded down $3.62 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $518.27. 135,189 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,441,428. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $398.26 and a 52 week high of $534.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $475.68 billion, a PE ratio of 39.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $504.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $471.38.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total transaction of $2,310,173.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 17,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. This trade represents a 21.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 90,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 91,649,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,965,195,590.40. This represents a 0.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,370 shares of company stock valued at $46,797,168 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.