Mayfair Advisory Group LLC Buys 118 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Mayfair Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 18.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 750 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MA. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 120,665.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,041,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,971,020,000 after purchasing an additional 8,035,099 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter valued at approximately $660,652,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Mastercard by 145.6% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,777,468 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $784,148,000 after buying an additional 1,053,616 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard in the second quarter worth about $259,071,000. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its position in Mastercard by 13.3% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,293,617 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,586,107,000 after buying an additional 387,317 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MA shares. Argus upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. William Blair upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $480.00 to $509.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $535.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $525.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 13,439 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Mastercard news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 109,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.45, for a total transaction of $50,952,050.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 91,924,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,970,017,774.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 13,439 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,304 shares in the company, valued at $12,423,320. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 340,809 shares of company stock valued at $159,610,703. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $507.36 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $471.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.33, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $491.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $465.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $359.77 and a fifty-two week high of $518.82.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.51 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $6.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.85 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.45% and a return on equity of 179.78%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.99%.

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.