Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s 5th Largest Position

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. cut its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,070,534 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 17,550 shares during the quarter. Mastercard accounts for about 4.0% of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $563,711,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MA. NewSquare Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Truvestments Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 62.5% during the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 65 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new position in Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Down 3.0 %

NYSE:MA opened at $540.57 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $492.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $428.86 and a twelve month high of $582.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $550.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $526.65.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.71% and a return on equity of 188.47%. Analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.89%.

Mastercard declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MA shares. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $605.00 to $670.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $572.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $595.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $606.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 15,775 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.16, for a total transaction of $8,678,774.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,871 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,692,629.36. This trade represents a 15.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Edward Grunde Mclaughlin sold 7,132 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $534.68, for a total transaction of $3,813,337.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,459,292.32. This trade represents a 17.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.