S&G Foundation Takes $3.60 Million Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

S&G Foundation bought a new position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,595,000. Mastercard accounts for approximately 0.2% of S&G Foundation’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 7.3% during 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 during the period. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan grew its stake in Mastercard by 6.1% in 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 buying an additional 3,768 shares during the last quarter. Marble Wealth LLC bought a new position in Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,328,000. Charles Lim Capital Ltd bought a new position in Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at about $15,699,000. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its position in Mastercard by 5.4% during the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 28,205 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $14,093,000 after acquiring an additional 1,434 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MA shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded Mastercard from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Barclays increased their target price on Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Mastercard from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Mastercard from $640.00 to $670.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Mastercard from $554.00 to $633.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $664.71.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $598.69 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $542.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $518.46. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $464.52 and a 12-month high of $601.62. The firm has a market cap of $524.46 billion, a PE ratio of 32.93, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96.

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

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 4,280 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.31, for a total transaction of $2,440,926.80. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 31,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,781,695.49. This represents a 12.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $525.00, for a total value of $2,534,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 16,429 shares in the company, valued at $8,625,225. The trade was a 22.71% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 71,357 shares of company stock worth $40,637,262. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.