Bank of America Corp DE Sells 252,961 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Bank of America Corp DE cut its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,090,085 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 252,961 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 0.58% of Mastercard worth $2,543,312,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd grew its holdings in Mastercard by 7.3% during the first quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 139,844 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $70,089,000 after purchasing an additional 9,504 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Mastercard by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 229,299 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $130,902,000 after purchasing an additional 9,795 shares in the last quarter. Marble Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,328,000. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan raised its holdings in Mastercard by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 65,414 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $37,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,768 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Lim Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth $15,699,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently 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 for the company. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $605.00 price objective on the stock. Susquehanna decreased their target price on Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup lowered their price target on Mastercard from $735.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on Mastercard from $561.00 to $554.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $653.65.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $563.65 on Thursday. The stock 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $511.79 and a 200-day moving average of $514.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $464.52 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77.

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

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. 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 (DPR) is currently 20.14%.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other news, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the 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 sale, the insider owned 3,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,793,880. This represents a 5.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 4,828 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.00, for a total transaction of $2,534,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,625,225. This represents a 22.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 7,005 shares of company stock worth $3,689,976 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

About Mastercard

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.