Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Insider Sells $4,296,155.72 in Stock

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) insider J. Mehra Sachin sold 7,444 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.13, for a total value of $4,296,155.72. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 40,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,613,851.08. The trade was a 15.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

J. Mehra Sachin also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, August 20th, J. Mehra Sachin sold 1,000 shares of Mastercard stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $572.07, for a total value of $572,070.00.
• On Wednesday, August 5th, J. Mehra Sachin sold 3,000 shares of Mastercard stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $571.87, for a total value of $1,715,610.00.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA stock traded up $0.61 during trading on Thursday, reaching $574.33. 2,612,550 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,690,343. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $464.52 and a 1-year high of $601.77. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $535.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $517.37. The firm has a market cap of $503.12 billion, a PE ratio of 31.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.72.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.77 by $0.27. Mastercard had a return on equity of 239.99% and a net margin of 46.34%.The company had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.08 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.15 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.14%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mastercard

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MA. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 7.3% during the first quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 139,844 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $70,089,000 after acquiring an additional 9,504 shares during the period. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 65,414 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $37,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,768 shares during the last quarter. Marble Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth $1,328,000. Charles Lim Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at $15,699,000. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 28,205 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $14,093,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MA. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $679.00 to $681.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $670.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Mastercard in a report on Monday, June 29th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $597.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded Mastercard from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Mastercard from $650.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $661.93.

Mastercard Company 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.