Soltis Investment Advisors LLC Sells 2,577 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Soltis Investment Advisors LLC lowered its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 25.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,495 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 2,577 shares during the period. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $4,212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MA. LGT Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, IMG Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MA. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $645.00 to $654.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Mastercard from $669.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $713.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Macquarie boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $647.59.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE:MA opened at $553.55 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $500.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $573.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $568.77. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.31 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.89 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 19.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $586.89, for a total value of $10,456,032.24. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at $18,330,922.26. The trade was a 36.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.