Apeiron RIA LLC Trims Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Apeiron RIA LLC lowered its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 8.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 508 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 47 shares during the quarter. Apeiron RIA LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $279,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Flaharty Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. 10Elms LLP purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the first quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MA shares. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $645.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $670.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $626.54.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA stock opened at $589.12 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $532.57 billion, a PE ratio of 39.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.99. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $465.59 and a 12-month high of $601.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $574.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $558.24.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.50 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other news, insider Craig Vosburg sold 9,428 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.05, for a total transaction of $3,328,555.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 58,451 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,636,125.55. This represents a 13.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total value of $178,049.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 8,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,833,004.23. The trade was a 3.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 49,094 shares of company stock worth $26,521,861. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.