McIlrath & Eck LLC Sells 376 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

McIlrath & Eck LLC lowered its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 47.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 418 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 376 shares during the period. McIlrath & Eck LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $206,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the third quarter valued at about $491,000. Unigestion Holding SA grew its position in Mastercard by 88.5% in the 3rd quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 140,678 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $69,439,000 after purchasing an additional 66,043 shares in the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,419 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,120,000 after buying an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 20,088 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,919,000 after buying an additional 1,907 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortem Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 1,482 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $732,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on MA shares. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $572.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $566.00 to $572.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Mastercard from $544.00 to $564.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $559.28.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total transaction of $2,294,994.10. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 15,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,363,085.66. The trade was a 23.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.2 %

Mastercard stock opened at $529.16 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $514.42 and its 200 day moving average is $479.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $485.68 billion, a PE ratio of 40.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $411.60 and a one year high of $535.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.39 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.97%.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. The company offers integrated products and value-added services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, digital partners, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid programs services; and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid payment products and solutions.