Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co Has $1.20 Million Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co lowered its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,420 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 247 shares during the quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,195,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $609,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.7% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 9,345 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,614,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.2% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,035 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,493,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC increased its holdings in Mastercard by 18.5% in the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 3,105 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,533,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the period. Finally, Advisory Resource Group increased its holdings in Mastercard by 1.3% in the third quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 2,276 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,124,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total transaction of $2,294,994.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 15,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,363,085.66. This trade represents a 23.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $532.47 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $488.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.28, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $411.60 and a fifty-two week high of $536.75. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $516.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $480.61.

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. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.39 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on MA. Barclays upped their price target on Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Macquarie upped their target price on Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $566.00 to $572.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $480.00 to $509.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $559.28.

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.