Welch Group LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Welch Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,888 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the quarter. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $6,858,000 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. Palisade Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth about $35,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 74.0% in the third quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VitalStone Financial LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 55.0% in the first quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC now owns 93 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $535.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $500.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Mastercard from $570.00 to $593.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $525.68.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.4 %

Mastercard stock traded up $1.98 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $509.34. The company had a trading volume of 199,882 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,418,226. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $491.84 and its 200-day moving average is $465.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $364.72 and a fifty-two week high of $518.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $473.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.99%.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In related news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total value of $2,310,173.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 17,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,440,885.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Mastercard news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total value of $2,310,173.50. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 17,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 119,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.46, for a total value of $55,746,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 92,033,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,113,923,465.68. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 340,809 shares of company stock valued at $159,610,703 in the last three months. Corporate 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.