Giverny Capital Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Giverny Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,841 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 798 shares during the period. Giverny Capital Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $15,645,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 5.2% during the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,970,300 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,107,190,000 after buying an additional 97,003 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its position in Mastercard by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 606,750 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $339,810,000 after purchasing an additional 24,555 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Mastercard in the second quarter worth approximately $6,725,317,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 350.8% in the 2nd quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 129,329 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $72,643,000 after acquiring an additional 100,640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scotia Capital Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.4% during the second quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 159,590 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $89,677,000 after buying an additional 622 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total transaction of $10,202,433.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,459,294. This represents a 35.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MA. Compass Point set a $620.00 target price on Mastercard and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Mastercard from $638.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Mastercard from $669.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $713.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $652.50.

Mastercard Price Performance

MA stock opened at $551.25 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $559.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $568.29. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $465.59 and a 52-week high of $601.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The stock has a market cap of $495.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.92.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.31 by $0.07. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The company had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.89 earnings per share. Mastercard’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Friday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 9th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.44%.

Mastercard Company 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.