Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Decreases Stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC reduced its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 15.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,875 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 1,792 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC's holdings in Mastercard were worth $5,413,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MA. Newport Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Newport Capital Group LLC now owns 1,798 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $985,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. BayBridge Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter valued at $203,000. Atlas Private Wealth Advisors increased its stake in Mastercard by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Atlas Private Wealth Advisors now owns 1,277 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $700,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. SFM LLC bought a new position in Mastercard in the 1st quarter worth about $2,775,000. Finally, MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 9.6% in the 1st quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 110,977 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $60,829,000 after buying an additional 9,737 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MA has been the topic of several research reports. Macquarie cut their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $645.00 to $610.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Mastercard from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered shares of Mastercard from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Mastercard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $610.00.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA traded up $0.89 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $569.56. The company had a trading volume of 2,246,096 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,617,608. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $428.86 and a twelve month high of $594.71. The stock has a market cap of $519.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.05. 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 business's 50-day simple moving average is $556.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $544.29.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 15,775 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.16, for a total value of $8,678,774.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,871 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,692,629.36. The trade was a 15.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Edward Grunde Mclaughlin sold 7,132 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $534.68, for a total value of $3,813,337.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,524 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,459,292.32. The trade was a 17.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 47,645 shares of company stock valued at $26,979,801 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

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.