Independent Financial Group LLC Purchases New Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Independent Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 5,447 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,722,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Smart Money Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 6.0% in the first quarter. Smart Money Group LLC now owns 2,062 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Mastercard by 38.6% during the first quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 201 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super purchased a new position in Mastercard in the first quarter valued at about $81,289,000. Vectors Research Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $355,000. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 108,039 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $53,983,000 after acquiring an additional 1,366 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MA. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Loop Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $631.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Clear Str upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings lowered Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Mastercard from $656.00 to $629.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Eight research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $653.92.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.4%

MA stock opened at $543.55 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $503.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $516.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $480.27 billion, a PE ratio of 31.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.73. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $464.52 and a 12 month high of $601.77. 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 (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.73 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.62 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 given a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In related news, insider Raj Seshadri sold 4,828 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider owned 16,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,625,225. This trade represents a 22.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total value of $108,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 3,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,793,880. The trade was a 5.68% decrease in their position. 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 have sold 7,005 shares of company stock valued at $3,689,976 in the last three months. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.