Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stake Lessened by King Luther Capital Management Corp

King Luther Capital Management Corp lowered its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 133,137 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 9,562 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $73,421,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 28,205 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $14,093,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434 shares during the period. Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC now owns 141,828 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $72,843,000 after buying an additional 3,006 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in Mastercard by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,656,528 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $850,004,000 after purchasing an additional 82,793 shares during the period. SteelPeak Wealth LLC grew its stake in Mastercard by 50.1% during the first quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 14,003 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $6,996,000 after acquiring an additional 4,675 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rockland Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 6.2% in the third quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 81,392 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $44,885,000 after purchasing an additional 4,751 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $660.63 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $575.52 billion, a PE ratio of 34.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.78. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $464.52 and a 12 month high of $681.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $597.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $541.07.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $0.14. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.73% and a return on equity of 260.86%. The firm had revenue of $9.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.66 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.38 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 20.00 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 18.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 370 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $590.21, for a total value of $218,377.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,237 shares in the company, valued at $4,861,559.77. The trade was a 4.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ling Hai sold 4,317 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $641.00, for a total value of $2,767,197.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 35,750 shares in the company, valued at $22,915,750. The trade was a 10.77% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 25,403 shares of company stock valued at $15,428,736 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Recent Mastercard Headlines

Investors following MA have been watching these headlines:

• Positive Sentiment: Sanford C. Bernstein raised its price target to $764 from $730 and reiterated an “outperform” rating, signaling confidence in Mastercard’s prospects. Read more about Bernstein’s price target
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is partnering with Sage and Adyen on small-business financial services. Mastercard will provide the card network for Sage business debit cards, while Adyen supplies banking infrastructure for the initial French rollout. Read about the Sage, Adyen and Mastercard partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach highlighted cybersecurity threats to financial infrastructure. The comments underscore an ongoing operational risk but did not describe a specific incident or financial impact. Watch the CEO’s cybersecurity comments

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $720.00 to $755.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $632.00 price objective (up from $609.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $696.00 to $742.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $680.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Mastercard from $674.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $713.21.

Mastercard Profile

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses and governments. Its network supports electronic payments, including transactions made with Mastercard-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards, as well as digital payment methods. The company provides technology for authorizing, clearing and settling transactions. It also offers services related to cybersecurity, identity verification, data analytics, fraud prevention and payment consulting.