Fermata Advisors LLC Has $343,000 Stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 694 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Fermata Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. West Coast Financial LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 0.5% during the third quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 39,160 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $19,337,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 1.4% during the third quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,625 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,289,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. LVW Advisors LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 11.1% during the third quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 6,504 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,212,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services boosted its position in Mastercard by 4.9% during the third quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 6,006 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,966,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $410,813,000 after purchasing an additional 37,486 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MA shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Compass Point started coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $525.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $532.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $480.00 to $509.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $518.96.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:MA opened at $502.25 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $359.77 and a one year high of $502.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $480.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $463.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $464.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.40, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.51 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $6.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.85 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.45% and a return on equity of 179.78%. As a group, analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 13,439 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total value of $6,114,745.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,423,320. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total transaction of $2,310,173.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 17,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 13,439 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total transaction of $6,114,745.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,423,320. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 340,809 shares of company stock valued at $159,610,703. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Profile

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.