IFG Advisors LLC Invests $396,000 in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

IFG Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 705 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $396,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new position in Mastercard in the first quarter worth approximately $31,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Mastercard in the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, 1 North Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth $44,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MA shares. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 price objective on Mastercard in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Seaport Res Ptn raised Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $634.04.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In related news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $586.89, for a total transaction of $10,456,032.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,330,922.26. This represents a 36.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $567.88 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $513.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.29, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.97. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $580.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $563.06. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 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.