Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC cut its Mastercard position by 33.8% in the first quarter, selling 4,063 shares and leaving it with 7,964 shares worth about $3.98 million.
• Despite the sale, Mastercard remains overwhelmingly held by institutions, with 97.28% of the stock owned by institutional investors.
• Mastercard beat first-quarter expectations, reporting $4.60 EPS on $8.40 billion in revenue, while analysts continue to view the stock favorably with an average Buy rating and a price target of $656.08.

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 33.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,964 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 4,063 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Mastercard were worth $3,980,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MA. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 820.0% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 46 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hyposwiss Advisors SA purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 250.0% in the 3rd quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 54.1% in the 4th quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MA shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $679.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Mastercard from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $656.08.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Mastercard stock opened at $489.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $432.21 billion, a PE ratio of 28.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $497.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $519.99. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $464.52 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.Mastercard's revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.73 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.14%.

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.

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