Northwest Bancshares Inc. Sells 270 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Northwest Bancshares Inc. cut its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,016 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 270 shares during the period. Northwest Bancshares Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $502,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MA. Sarasin & Partners LLP raised its position in Mastercard by 4.7% during the third quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $410,813,000 after purchasing an additional 37,486 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,031,915 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,497,160,000 after purchasing an additional 138,842 shares during the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth $608,000. SteelPeak Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 48.6% during the 2nd quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 4,928 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,174,000 after buying an additional 1,612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OMC Financial Services LTD acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the first quarter valued at about $17,854,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Macquarie upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. William Blair raised shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Mastercard from $544.00 to $564.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $549.16.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 90,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.80, for a total transaction of $42,192,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 91,649,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,965,195,590.40. This represents a 0.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were 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 directly owns 17,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. This trade represents a 21.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 99,370 shares of company stock valued at $46,797,168. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE MA opened at $519.47 on Wednesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $398.26 and a one year high of $534.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $505.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $472.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $476.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 19.97%.

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.