EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 15.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,231 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 967 shares during the quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $3,612,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MA. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 139,844 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $70,089,000 after buying an additional 9,504 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Mastercard by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 229,299 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $130,902,000 after acquiring an additional 9,795 shares during the last quarter. Marble Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,328,000. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan increased its holdings in Mastercard by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 65,414 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $37,344,000 after acquiring an additional 3,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Lim Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth about $15,699,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on MA. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $640.00 price target on the stock. Clear Str upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Mastercard from $561.00 to $554.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $653.65.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other news, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total transaction of $108,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 3,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,793,880. This represents a 5.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 4,828 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.00, for a total transaction of $2,534,700.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 16,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,625,225. The trade was a 22.71% 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. Insiders sold 7,005 shares of company stock valued at $3,689,976 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA opened at $563.65 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $498.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.62, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $511.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $514.20. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $464.52 and a 1 year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.73 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.61 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be given a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 20.14%.

Mastercard 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.