CI Investments Inc. Buys 18,372 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

CI Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 845,789 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 18,372 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises about 2.0% of CI Investments Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. CI Investments Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $422,607,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its position in Mastercard by 53,535.0% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 72,597,097 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $41,444,231,000 after purchasing an additional 72,461,743 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at about $6,705,708,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 861.6% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 4,072,210 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,324,743,000 after buying an additional 3,648,748 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,807,283,000 after buying an additional 997,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth approximately $497,311,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MA shares. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $605.00 price objective on the stock. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $679.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Clear Str raised shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $653.92.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,977 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.73, for a total transaction of $1,047,276.21. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 16,429 shares in the company, valued at $8,702,934.17. This represents a 10.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total value of $108,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 3,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,793,880. This represents a 5.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,005 shares of company stock worth $3,689,976. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and Al Etihad Payments announced the first co-badged Jaywan-Mastercard credit card, a new partnership that could expand Mastercard’s footprint in the UAE and support payment-network volume growth. Al Etihad Payments, Mastercard launch world’s first Jaywan-Mastercard co-badged credit card
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard was highlighted as a strong momentum stock, reinforcing the view that the company still has favorable fundamental and trading characteristics despite recent weakness. Here’s Why MasterCard (MA) is a Strong Momentum Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and Lithic introduced a way to make small-business loan proceeds spend-ready, a payments-adjacent product that could deepen Mastercard’s role in SMB finance workflows. Lithic and Mastercard Make SMB Loans Ready to Spend

Mastercard Trading Down 1.8%

NYSE:MA opened at $537.33 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $505.73 and its 200-day moving average is $515.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $464.52 and a 12 month high of $601.77. The firm has a market cap of $474.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.73.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.73 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.62 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 20.14%.

Mastercard Company Profile

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. The company facilitates electronic payments and transaction processing for credit, debit and prepaid card products carrying the Mastercard brand, while also providing a range of payment-related services to issuers, acquirers and merchants. Its technology and network enable authorization, clearing and settlement of payments and support a broad set of use cases including point-of-sale, e-commerce and mobile payments.

Beyond core transaction processing, Mastercard offers a suite of value-added services such as fraud and risk management, identity and authentication tools, tokenization and digital wallet support, cross-border and commercial payment solutions, and data analytics and consulting services for merchants and financial partners.