Martin Currie Ltd. Has $88.45 Million Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Martin Currie Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 161,364 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,885 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises 3.6% of Martin Currie Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Martin Currie Ltd.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $88,447,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. bought a new stake in Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. 10Elms LLP bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $546.77, for a total value of $601,447.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 12,921 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,815.17. This trade represents a 7.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total value of $178,049.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,833,004.23. This trade represents a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 38,453 shares of company stock valued at $20,178,667. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MA shares. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 price objective on Mastercard in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Mastercard from $660.00 to $670.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Mastercard from $650.00 to $652.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $615.33.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Mastercard stock opened at $584.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $563.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $554.40. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $461.90 and a 52-week high of $594.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $528.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.03.

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, 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 analyst estimates of $7.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

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.