Federated Hermes Inc. Has $72.22 Million Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Key Points

• Federated Hermes Inc. has reduced its stake in Mastercard by 24.6%, selling 42,903 shares during the first quarter, resulting in total holdings worth approximately $72.22 million.
• Mastercard reported $3.73 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing predictions by $0.16, with a year-over-year revenue increase of 14.2%.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, which will be distributed on August 8th, resulting in an annualized dividend of $3.04 and a yield of 0.54%.

Federated Hermes Inc. lowered its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 24.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 131,764 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 42,903 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.'s holdings in Mastercard were worth $72,222,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 22,267,937 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $11,725,627,000 after purchasing an additional 912,856 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,657,792 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $9,800,202,000 after buying an additional 282,739 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,149,181 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $4,817,684,000 after buying an additional 1,207,787 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 65,631.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,225,637 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $4,508,636,000 after buying an additional 8,213,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 7,610,333 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $4,007,373,000 after buying an additional 71,874 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In other news, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,100 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $546.77, for a total transaction of $601,447.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 12,921 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,064,815.17. This represents a 7.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 958 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $536,480.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 23,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,229,440. This represents a 3.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 38,753 shares of company stock worth $20,351,084. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen raised Mastercard from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Mastercard from $640.00 to $612.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Mastercard from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt cut Mastercard from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $615.33.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA traded down $6.74 during trading on Friday, reaching $559.73. 3,316,713 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,427,760. The stock has a market cap of $510.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.74, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $564.67 and a 200 day moving average of $551.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $439.59 and a 52 week high of $594.71.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.50 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 9th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio is 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.