Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Purchased by Stevens Capital Management LP

Stevens Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 47.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,858 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,191 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises approximately 1.5% of Stevens Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Stevens Capital Management LP’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $5,540,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.9% in the first quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. now owns 632 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $347,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.8% during the second quarter. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,272 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,276,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. KRS Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.6% in the second quarter. KRS Capital Management LLC now owns 2,848 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,601,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Nvest Financial LLC lifted its position in Mastercard by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Nvest Financial LLC now owns 1,505 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $846,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Washington Trust Advisors Inc. grew its position in Mastercard by 5.6% in the second quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 339 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $191,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $713.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $645.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Mastercard from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $652.50.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total value of $10,202,433.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,459,294. The trade was a 35.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Mastercard Trading Up 2.4%

Mastercard stock opened at $540.42 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $485.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.44, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $563.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $569.09.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.31 by $0.07. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.The business had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.89 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 9th were issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.44%.

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.