Aberdeen Group plc Sells 5,834 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Aberdeen Group plc trimmed its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 987,462 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 5,834 shares during the quarter. Mastercard makes up approximately 1.0% of Aberdeen Group plc’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Aberdeen Group plc’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $532,168,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. 10Elms LLP purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MA shares. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $655.00 price target on Mastercard in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $615.33.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $584.14 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $528.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $461.90 and a 12 month high of $594.71. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $563.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $554.40.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.10. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The business had revenue of $8.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.50 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th were issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 9th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 20.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total value of $178,049.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,469 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,833,004.23. The trade was a 3.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Craig Vosburg sold 9,428 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.05, for a total transaction of $3,328,555.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 58,451 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,636,125.55. This represents a 13.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 38,453 shares of company stock worth $20,178,667. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.