Berkshire Bank Sells 446 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Berkshire Bank decreased its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 16.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,325 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 446 shares during the quarter. Berkshire Bank’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,307,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ethos Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 19.5% during the 1st quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 3,174 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,683,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the period. Fortis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Fortis Advisors LLC now owns 871 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $477,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 36.4% during the 1st quarter. Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida now owns 693 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 18.0% during the 1st quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,870 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,766,000 after purchasing an additional 1,047 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 607,702 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $333,095,000 after purchasing an additional 3,001 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total transaction of $178,049.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,833,004.23. This represents a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $546.77, for a total transaction of $601,447.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 12,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,064,815.17. This trade represents a 7.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 49,094 shares of company stock valued at $26,521,861. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on MA. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of 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 shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $670.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $630.89.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $586.63 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $530.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $575.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $558.53. 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 $465.59 and a 12 month high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $8.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities 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, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 20.50%.

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.