Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by CENTRAL TRUST Co

CENTRAL TRUST Co reduced its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 35,159 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,835 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $19,999,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Nvest Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% in the second 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. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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. Rialto Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 13.0% in the second quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Robbins Farley grew its stake in Mastercard by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 54 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Mastercard by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 841 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $479,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore set a $610.00 price target on Mastercard in a research report on Friday, December 12th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $668.00 to $671.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $665.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $669.27.

Mastercard Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $527.65 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $554.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $563.50. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $465.59 and a 12-month high of $601.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The stock has a market cap of $473.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.94, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.83.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.52. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.65% and a return on equity of 203.92%. The firm had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.80 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.82 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 21.07%.

Mastercard Profile

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. The company facilitates electronic payments and transaction processing for credit, debit and prepaid card products carrying the Mastercard brand, while also providing a range of payment-related services to issuers, acquirers and merchants. Its technology and network enable authorization, clearing and settlement of payments and support a broad set of use cases including point-of-sale, e-commerce and mobile payments.

Beyond core transaction processing, Mastercard offers a suite of value-added services such as fraud and risk management, identity and authentication tools, tokenization and digital wallet support, cross-border and commercial payment solutions, and data analytics and consulting services for merchants and financial partners.