Atreides Management LP Sells 5,703 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Atreides Management LP reduced its stake in Mastercard by 8.0% in the first quarter, now holding 65,605 shares valued at approximately $35.9 million.
• Multiple brokerages have upgraded Mastercard's rating, with two firms upgrading it to a Strong Buy, and an average target price now at $617.93.
• Insider trading includes significant sales by CFO J. Mehra Sachin and other executives, indicating a 36.32% decrease in their stakes following recent stock sales.

Atreides Management LP cut its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 8.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 65,605 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 5,703 shares during the quarter. Mastercard makes up approximately 1.1% of Atreides Management LP's portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Atreides Management LP's holdings in Mastercard were worth $35,959,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. bought a new stake in Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. 10Elms LLP purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Mastercard from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Mastercard from $660.00 to $670.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Mastercard from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $626.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other news, insider Craig Vosburg sold 9,428 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.05, for a total value of $3,328,555.40. Following the transaction, the insider owned 58,451 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,636,125.55. This represents a 13.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 958 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total transaction of $536,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 23,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,229,440. The trade was a 3.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 59,481 shares of company stock worth $32,616,595. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA stock traded down $11.43 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $584.21. 2,432,106 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,252,842. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $572.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $557.60. 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 Incorporated has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $528.13 billion, a PE ratio of 39.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.99.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.05 by $0.10. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The business had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.50 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Mastercard's payout ratio is presently 20.50%.

Mastercard 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.