Proficio Capital Partners LLC Buys 3,083 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 742.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,498 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,083 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,796,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MA. Robinswood Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 820.0% during the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 46 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Hyposwiss Advisors SA acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, First Pacific Financial increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 113.8% during the first quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 62 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the business’s 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 directly owned 3,322 shares in the company, valued at $1,793,880. The trade was a 5.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing 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 Raj Seshadri sold 1,977 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.73, for a total value of $1,047,276.21. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,702,934.17. The trade was a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 71,357 shares of company stock valued at $40,637,262. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on MA shares. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $664.00 to $667.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $665.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Susquehanna reduced 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $664.71.

Mastercard Price Performance

NYSE:MA opened at $598.35 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $545.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $518.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $464.52 and a 1-year high of $601.62. The firm has a market cap of $524.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.72.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.77 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.08 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 239.99% and a net margin of 46.34%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.15 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.86 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.14%.

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.