IFP Advisors Inc Acquires 2,418 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 12.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 21,615 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,418 shares during the quarter. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $11,101,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Robinswood Financial LLC bought a new position in Mastercard during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 820.0% in 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 period. Strive Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hyposwiss Advisors SA purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, First Pacific Financial lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MA shares. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $670.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. TD Cowen increased their price target on Mastercard from $664.00 to $667.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group raised their price target on Mastercard from $640.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $701.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $666.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Linda Kirkpatrick sold 4,280 shares of Mastercard 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 31,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,781,695.49. The trade was a 12.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Michael Miebach sold 16,628 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.68, for a total value of $9,439,383.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 115,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,806,033.28. This represents a 12.54% 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 sold a total of 74,623 shares of company stock valued at $42,544,606 in the last 90 days. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $570.35 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $561.02 and a 200 day moving average of $522.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $499.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.74. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $464.52 and a 12-month high of $601.62.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $4.77 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.08 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.34% and a return on equity of 239.99%. 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 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) is a global technology company that operates a payments network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses. The company facilitates electronic payment transactions, including credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments, by providing the infrastructure used to authorize, clear and settle transactions.

Mastercard’s products and services include its Mastercard-branded payment cards, digital payment tools, contactless payment technology and payment solutions for businesses and governments.