Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC Makes New $291,000 Investment in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 530 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $291,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $3,594,000 after acquiring an additional 2,028 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its stake in Mastercard by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 70,472 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $37,108,000 after acquiring an additional 7,452 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 51.6% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,954 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,555,000 after acquiring an additional 1,006 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its stake in Mastercard by 21.5% during the fourth quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 13,547 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $7,133,000 after acquiring an additional 2,395 shares during the period. Finally, Founders Financial Alliance LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 676 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MA shares. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, June 6th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Mastercard from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Mastercard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 14th. Evercore ISI started coverage on Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $550.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered Mastercard from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $611.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Craig Vosburg sold 9,428 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.05, for a total transaction of $3,328,555.40. Following the sale, the insider owned 58,451 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,636,125.55. This trade represents a 13.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total value of $178,049.04. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,469 shares in the company, valued at $4,833,004.23. The trade was a 3.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 38,753 shares of company stock worth $20,351,084. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Mastercard Trading Down 2.4%

Shares of MA stock traded down $13.48 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $550.04. The company had a trading volume of 3,221,317 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,666,632. The company has a 50 day moving average of $568.42 and a 200 day moving average of $547.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.81, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $501.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.02. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $428.86 and a 1-year high of $594.71.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The credit services provider reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $7.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.12 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 196.87% and a net margin of 45.21%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.31 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 9th. Mastercard's payout ratio is presently 21.32%.

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.