Insider Selling: Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Insider Sells $1,907,344.00 in Stock

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) insider Sachin Mehra sold 3,266 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $584.00, for a total transaction of $1,907,344.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 36,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,403,600. This trade represents a 8.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

J. Mehra Sachin also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, August 20th, Sachin Mehra sold 1,000 shares of Mastercard stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $572.07, for a total transaction of $572,070.00.
• On Wednesday, August 19th, Sachin Mehra sold 7,444 shares of Mastercard stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.13, for a total transaction of $4,296,155.72.
• On Wednesday, August 5th, Sachin Mehra sold 3,000 shares of Mastercard stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $571.87, for a total transaction of $1,715,610.00.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of MA traded down $2.44 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $585.70. The company had a trading volume of 2,155,600 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,636,441. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $554.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $520.59. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $464.52 and a 52 week high of $601.62. The company has a market capitalization of $513.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.74.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 239.99% and a net margin of 46.34%.The company had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.86 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were given a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 19.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on MA shares. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $664.00 to $667.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, June 29th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $597.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $679.00 to $681.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Mastercard from $554.00 to $633.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $666.64.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 820.0% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 46 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Strive Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Hyposwiss Advisors SA purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Robinswood Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new position in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

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.