Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Shares Bought by Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,851 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $7,187,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MA. State Street Corp raised its position in Mastercard by 3.9% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,759,814 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $12,632,032,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,477 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 15,843,692 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,509,328,000 after acquiring an additional 2,385,640 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,308,223,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Mastercard by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,075,358 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,593,025,000 after acquiring an additional 251,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 3.9% during the second quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 8,420,213 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,311,670,000 after purchasing an additional 318,077 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Mastercard from $504.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Mastercard from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Mastercard from $433.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on Mastercard from $452.00 to $504.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.23.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA stock traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $454.48. 1,098,707 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,388,982. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $471.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $433.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $357.85 and a 12-month high of $490.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $423.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.08.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.08 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.46 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 191.22% and a net margin of 44.60%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.65 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.35 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 9th will be issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 8th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 22.32%.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 16,037 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.94, for a total transaction of $7,632,649.78. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 12,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,832,644.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Mastercard news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 16,037 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $475.94, for a total transaction of $7,632,649.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 12,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,832,644.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ajay Bhalla sold 98 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $439.52, for a total value of $43,072.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,235 shares in the company, valued at $2,740,407.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,728 shares of company stock worth $68,483,403 in the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Mastercard

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.