Citizens & Northern Corp Cuts Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Citizens & Northern Corp lowered its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 0.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,168 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 63 shares during the period. Mastercard comprises 1.2% of Citizens & Northern Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Citizens & Northern Corp’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $4,590,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Mastercard by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,544,675 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $42,503,787,000 after purchasing an additional 365,537 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter valued at $11,421,213,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,096,979 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,015,557,000 after buying an additional 907,184 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 38.6% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,413,936,000 after buying an additional 3,765,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 1st quarter worth about $4,238,764,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $586.89, for a total value of $10,456,032.24. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,330,922.26. This trade represents a 36.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on MA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $650.00 target price for the company. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Mastercard from $640.00 to $612.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $669.00 target price on Mastercard and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.74.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of MA opened at $572.14 on Wednesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $465.59 and a twelve month high of $601.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $517.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97. 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 fifty day simple moving average is $580.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $564.09.

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

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.50%.

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.